Romantic potential
by CyaSunn
Summary: Remus and Sirius find out they are gifted with what Dumbledore lightly calls "romantic potential".
1. The 'Get It Done' type of person

Rating: T

Genre: Humour/Romance/Friendship

Pairing: Remus/Sirius, later a bit Lily/James

Warning: Uh, I don't know. None, I think?

Summary: Remus and Sirius find out they are gifted with what Dumbledore lightly calls "romantic potential".

Disclaimer: Sirius and Remus don't belong to me, neither do James, Peter, Dumbledore, Lily, Hogwarts or anyone/anything else you might recognize. I just made up the plot.

A/N: Yeah so, I _still_ don't have any real free time due to university applications, so I decided to write yet another fanfiction. I know. That's simply how my mind works. *sign*

**Romantic potential**

_by CyaSunn_**  
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Chapter One: The 'Get It Done' type of person

It was a nice Saturday morning, only two and a half weeks from Christmas, and the four marauders made their way through the Great Hall still laughing among themselves about their latest prank which had contained their Transfiguration professor, a bathtub, and a mop. They were planning on a relaxed day outside underneath their tree since snow seemed to come late this year. Of course, this had not stopped anyone from already decorating the school for Christmas. However, their plan got interrupted by Remus and Sirius' sudden stop in front of the Great Hall doors. Because they had been leading the group, James and Peter also jerked to a halt.

"Why did you stop?" James asked them, but the two boys were occupied trying to walk from the spot - and failing miserably. Simultaneously, they directed their gazes to the treacherous plant above them.

"But how-?" Sirius asked dumbly while Remus voiced his thoughts much more clearly: "I thought they only affected people when they were of different genders – Lily and Alice walked under it just a few minutes ago and nothing happened to _them_!"

"Ah, but it's a little more complicated than that," Dumbledore chuckled quietly behind them and they turned to see the headmaster standing only a few feet away. "You see, mistletoes recognize not simply genders but romantic potential."

"Romantic potential?" Sirius spat out looking rather horrified. Remus beside him turned a shade of deep crimson and seemed to be at a loss of words.

"Yes," the headmaster answered lightly. "It appears to me that you two might have a shot at a great future together."

James, who had eyed his best friends with a look quite similar to Sirius' before, now burst into mad laughter. Sirius sent him a well-deserved death glare.

"Sorry mate," James said grinning. "I just imagined you two sitting side by side in your rocking chairs, holding hands and talking about the great life you led together. You know, you _do_ behave like an old couple sometimes," he added as an afterthought.

Had Sirius not been currently stuck under a bloody mistletoe with his bloody _male_ best friend, his other best friend would have won himself a good punch in his bloody face.

"Professor, how do we get rid of this?" Remus asked Dumbledore now; he had clearly found his voice again.

"Oh, I must think you'll have to do it the traditional way," Dumbledore smiled at the two boys. Remus started at the headmaster in horror while Sirius could see all his years of careful establishing his 'Hogwarts Sex God' image go to waste before his inner eye.

"What does that mean, the traditional way?" Peter asked James silently, but James didn't do him the favour to whisper his answer as he said out loud: "They have to kiss, Wormtail."

Remus thought he was going to faint. He had known the meaning of "doing it the traditional way" of course, but hearing it confirmed by someone else was even worse than just knowing it yourself. Oh, and there was also the small fact that by now, every pupil currently present in the Great Hall had definitely noticed in what position he and Sirius were in and that they stared shamelessly.

"Surely the mistletoe isn't working properly," Sirius said weakly, his mind still fixed on their supposed 'romantic potential'.

"I highly doubt that," Dumbledore replied smiling brightly. "But there is an easy way to find out…" He waved his wand in a complicated fashion and sure enough, some numbers appeared over the heads of the those mistletoe-stuck boys. The numbers started at 01 and went up quickly until they stopped on 94. The headmaster chuckled a moment before he said: "There you go, a rare and wonderful 94% of romantic potential."

"I think I'm going to faint," Remus said out loud this time, but Sirius shot him an angry look and replied: "Don't you dare fall into my arms, Remus! I will most certainly _not_ catch you right now!"

Turned towards Dumbledore, he said: "But surely this isn't very uncommon, all the married ones will have about 100%, right?" His voice sounded awfully hoarse.

The headmaster's eyes twinkled at the boy's attempt to make this seem like a common coincidence. It was, of course, useless. "Oh no, dear boy," Dumbledore replied happily. "Most spouses have about 60%."

"Can I faint now?" Remus said horror-struck. Sirius didn't answer, all the colour had drained from his face.

"Isn't there any way around this?" the young Lycanthrope asked with all his last hope.

"Well no," Dumbledore said. "You two will have to kiss eventually. However, there is a possibility to postpone it for two weeks, but not longer."

Remus opened his mouth to agree to that – it was better than nothing, at the very least – but Sirius beat him to it: "Absolutely not!"

All eyes in the Great Hall turned to Sirius who flushed slightly. "I am not running around dreading this for the next two weeks, not a chance! I am more the 'Get It Done' type of person," he flashed the female population of Hogwarts a smile which no one but his best friends could tell from his normal, confident Sex God smile.

Remus stared at him in anger. If the great Sirius Black wanted this all behind him, who was he, small Remus Lupin, to disagree? The fact that in two weeks there would be much less people around since it were the Christmas holidays and that he, Remus Lupin, did not like attention one single bit seemed to have slipped Sirius' mind.

What Sirius hadn't included in his calculations, but which really helped them from what would have been a really awkward, hesitant kiss to a quick, furious crush of their lips, was the fact that angry Remus was a lot less reflecting than shy Remus and therefore, angry Remus was a lot easier to kiss. Sirius found this out in the short seconds in which Remus pressed his lips to his and hadn't his mind been preoccupied with the fact that this shouldn't feel good in any way, he would have noticed how nicely Remus' lips seemed to fit to his.

As things were, it was over before Sirius had really grasped that it had begun and the next thing he knew the door of the Great Hall closed silently behind Remus' retarding figure. Sirius stood still for some seconds, frozen in his place, before he seemed to snap out of his thoughts and grinned around the hall: "So, did you enjoy the show?"

But when he shot James a look, it clearly said: _Take me out of here. I don't care how you do it, just do it. Now._

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Well hello all my dear readers. It's nice to see you here. Would you care to leave me a small review (I don't mind if you forget about the "small" part)? It would maybe help inspire me to write you the next chapter, just so you know.<p>

Ah, I'm not good with that sort of talk, but you know, every writer lives for the feedback. So do tell me if you liked it and why or if not, why you didn't. I really _want_ to get better. I don't have cookies, but I've got muffins, if that helps at all.

Cya XXX


	2. I'll take my chances

A/N: The chapter starts out rather serious for a humour story, but I think it picks up a bit in the end. It's all Dumbledore's fault anyway for not being in this chapter and ease up things... No, I think with those two confused teenagers running around the tension must be noticeable. But I made it extra-long to compensate for that, so don't complain! (Actually, if you want to, you are very much invited to complain, after all, a writer needs to get through the criticism to become an author.) A big THANK YOU for all my reviewers, alerters and/or favouriters! It was really, really apprechiated!

Review Responses:

**Nerdy Slytherin**: Thank you for being brave enough to give the very first review! (Oh, I didn't mean to offend you, you surely still belong into Slytherin even if you had one moment of braveness...) I must say I'm really, really not into all of this cliché stuff... I mean, I do fancy me some nice mistletoe kisses, don't get me wrong, but I always try to include some orginality, I'm glad it showed...

**gotalittlebitstronger**: Important things first: Here's your muffin. I hope you don't mind the delay, I had to bake some first, somehow I ran out of them... Hopefully you are right and the having no time thing works exactly like you said... And uh, I promise I will not have either James or Peter doing nasty things with the Giant Squid, and definitely not together! James is perfectly fine with his Lilyflower, if he will ever so lucky as to officially be able to call her his own without getting something he values rather highly hexed off in the process, thank you very much. And Peter might want to find himself something closer to his species? (Only a suggestion.) Even if I'm not fond of purposefully cutting Peter out of any Marauder-centered story or portraying him as a total loser... But I'm rambling, sorry. On with the story.

**xLizziexLupinx**: Thank you!

**anonymous**: There you go. More for all of you!

**Guro**: Thank you, I will!

**adamantmelon**: Short but sweet. Thank you!

**Cat**: Thanks :)

Chapter Two: I'll take my chances

It was one of the only times in all their years in Hogwarts that the Marauders' dorm room was quiet. James lay on his four-poster and played absentmindly with the nicked snitch while Sirius in the bed next to him just stared at the ceiling. Remus and Peter were absent, probably in the library which was Remus' favourite place whenever he needed to think.

Sirius could hardly remember what had happened after the kiss or how James finally got him out of there. He knew he had watched Peter leave in search of Remus a short while after the action was over and how he himself had tried to act like it had all been good entertainment. It helped a bit that the girls in the castle seemed to find it cute rather than disgusting, but he had received a lot of strange looks from the boys. He thanked God Snape had been in the Hospital Wing all day and had therefore missed the scene, but they would no doubt hear his share of thoughts on this as well - _finally he has some ammo against his tormentors_, Sirius thought grudgingly.

James found the silence dreadful. He and his best friend always knew what to say to each other, they always joked around and never before had he been afraid to talk to him about something, even if most of the time, talking hadn't been necessary between the two. But Sirius seemed distant and for some reason, James thought it might be better to leave him alone for a while.

It was late in the night when James finally fell asleep on his bed and even later when Sirius heard Peter come back from wherever he had been with Remus. However, it wasn't until he had drifted into a very uneasy sleep himself that the fourth marauder entered the room quietly and went to bed as well, trying his hardest to simply forget.

**x**-**x**-**x**

The next morning was a Sunday and when Peter woke up to the noise of James and Sirius talking among each other he could see that Remus' bed beside him was already empty.

"But that's the perfect opportunity! It will finally convince Lily we are made for each other!" Obviously James had made up yet another brilliant plan on how to help poor ignorant Lily Evans to realise her undying love for him. Also obviously James had decided the best thing to do was to talk to Sirius like nothing had happened. And obviously yet again he had at least a bit of success with that, because Sirius reacted quite normal:

"Prongs, have you even considered the possibility that the spell might not work to your liking? You heard Dumbledore – even spouses normally get around 60%," Sirius replied even though his voice sounded a little shaky at the end of the sentence.

Okay, so he still wasn't back to totally normal. Who would?

James grinned at him, apparently deciding the proper amount of time until he could start the jokes with a good conscience had passed at last: "If even you and Remus get 94%, I'd say I'll take my chances with Lily."

Sirius gritted his teeth and said nothing, which was reaction enough for both Peter and James, who laughed at their best mate's face.

"So come on now," James pressed, sending Peter a glance as well. "We need to go to the library!"

"Uh, no breakfast?" Peter asked, quite sure his stomach would object to that.

James shook his head. "No time, I need to find that spell," he added. "You see the sacrifices I make for that girl?" the black haired boy asked, but he grinned. They all knew he would sacrifice much more for Lily Evans, if only there were any hope it would help him get her.

Sirius had been unusually quiet in this conversation, since he would normally be the first person signing up for breakfast and one of the last people skipping it. Now, though, he didn't really seem to mind as he just shrugged and walked out of the dorm with James, leaving Peter to get dressed and find something to eat himself.

**x**-**x**-**x**

"Oh, no," Sirius muttered when he and James entered the library a few minutes later. Now Sirius Black was all but stupid, so of course he had known from the second James had uttered the word "library" that he would probably meet Remus there, but he still had hoped, well he didn't know what, really. He was kind of relieved to see that his friend was still alive and well – at least concerning his health –, but seeing him again after the incident in the Great Hall made him uneasy. His stomach, which he had thought he had lost somehow between yesterday morning and today, notified him of his presence rather undelightfully by sinking someplace to his feet only to then jump up to his throat to successfully block another word from leaving his mouth.

Remus sat in his usual armchair in the corner, a place he had claimed in first year because it was both somewhat hidden from an inattentive person's view but still overlooked all the important parts of the library. Sirius had seen him first thing they had come in because he very well knew where to look for him. It had been Sirius, after all, who had taken it upon him shortly before their first year had been over to do the unimaginable and enter the library to look for Remus.

At the moment, however, Remus tried very hard to focus on the book in front of him – he believed it was something about the moon and vampires (now that was original, he had always thought the moon was more important to werewolves, but who was he to know anything?), but he couldn't be sure. He hadn't heard Sirius' mutter, but he did catch James' response:

"You two need to talk anyway. I'll get started in the Charms section, shall I?" When Remus looked up he saw James vanishing between two bookshelves, leaving behind a rather lost looking Sirius who now stared at him.

Remus gathered up his few things – his bag and cloak, mainly –, ignored the book as well as Sirius and left the library to the second exit on his left. The door swung loudly behind him.

Inside, Sirius watched his best friend leave the room for the second time in two days and he didn't only have a feeling, he knew for a fact it was because of him.

**x**-**x**-**x**

Remus wandered the castle aimlessly and tried to avoid the students who eyed him suspiciously - really, you could think _they_ had been stuck under the mistletoe with him. Unfortunately, by going out of the other student's way, he came across some other people he would rather haven't met this day. First, he had to endure Peeves' new song ("After everyone else goes to sleep / The bookworm and the White Black sheep / Go get them some Christmas spirit..."), then he almost ran into Filch who held an animated conversation with his cat Mrs. Norris ("I wonder if Dumbledore can perform this spell on us one day, Mrs. Norris... I bet we would have more than lousy 94%..." - "Miau.") and when he thought there was nothing worse, he stumbled into Severus Snape who sported a rather slimy grin.

"Ahh Lupin," he said, and Remus had a funny feeling this would not turn out to be their most polite conversation.

"Snape," he answered shortly and tried to go around him. He failed, of course.

"I heard you found yourself some romance," Snape grinned again.

Remus flushed. If he had been James or Sirius, he would have had a great retort to that, but he was Remus Lupin, so he didn't.

"Is 94% soulmates yet?" Snape now asked. "Or does that start later?"

Remus didn't answer, but silently he wondered if there was such a thing as a chart about this whole ridiculous 'romantic potential' thing. Maybe there was... Maybe it would say things like "60% - chances are you'll end up divorcing after 3 happy and 5 unhappy years; 65% - give it a go; 70% - open a joint account with a bank; 80% - invest in a house etc. Maybe 94% would say "watch out that no one notices you've got such a high romantic potential with your best friend who happens to be of the same sex because it causes everyone to act strange, including your own mind". Then again, maybe it would only say "lucky bastard" - after all, books tend to ignore the fact that romance did indeed habour problems.

"I also heard Black didn't give you the chance to put it off for two weeks - must've been too anxious to finally get his oh-so-long awaited kiss..."

Remus had never been so happy to hear Madam Pomfrey's voice.

"Mister Snape, what are you doing out here? You are supposed to rest!"

With one last sneer in Remus' direction, Snape turned around to go back to his bed and Remus decided that until the next full moon, he would find better places to hide from awkward remarks concerning his damned unwanted romantic potential with his best friend than the Hospital Station while he knew Snape was inside.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Uh, excuse all mistakes I might have made - I'm sort of in a hurry because I'm meeting a friend in town in a few minutes and I haven't even dried my hair yet. Ah... But I wanted you to have a chapter before I leave, since I don't know when I'm gonna be back today. So this was the second chapter. Forgive me again for the less humouristic side of the story in here... I promise the return of Professor Dumbledore in the next chapter, how does that sound? :)<p>

Did anyone notice that in the sentence "He thanked God Snape had been in the Hospital Wing all day..." it sounds a bit like "Snape" is the God's name? Not intended, of course, but I found it hilarious after I first spotted it. Couldn't change a thing about it.

Reviews are loved!

Love Cya XXX

P.S. Now isn't this a nice day? I'm late, it's raining and on top of that I cut myself... with a mug. (Don't ask.)


	3. A Favour

A/N: Aww, I'm back. Dumbledore's back, too - with a very evil (well, evil from Remus' and probably Sirius' point of view) plan, hihi. Three chapters in three days - I'm proud! I don't know if I'll be able to update as often as I did on the weekend as well - but you will get at least one chapter either Saturday or Sunday, and then I shall be back on Monday.

Review Responses:

**Guro:** Thanks :)

**anonymous: **Your wish is my command. :)**  
><strong>

**Cat:** Thanks again!

**thebritish-elle:** Thank you, I try my hardest to update regularly!

Chapter Three: A Favour

It was so _typical_, he told himself. The one time he really needed to hide in- eh, _make use of_ the library was the time his stupid friends decided they needed to hang around in there _every damn free minute_ they were cursed with. Cursed, because though denial was one thing Remus Lupin was extraordinarily good at – well at least he would be, if he could somehow avoid this selfish git called Sirius Black - it was far easier to forget his anger about Sirius if he loaded himself with schoolwork. Of course, being able to actually spend time in the library would help with that… But since his friends had decided to take over his territory, Remus needed to find someplace else to concentrate on the fascinating content of his Charms book. That was how he had ended up in one of the Greenhouses.

It hadn't been his best idea, Remus had to admit shortly after he sat down with his back to the plant pots and felt the damp earth wetting his trousers. However, since the damage was already done, Remus had no intention whatsoever to give up his hiding spot. Finally he had found a place where he could be alone. Breakfast this Monday morning had been horrible. He had sat next to Peter on purpose because the other free seat would have been next to Sirius. At least now he had had Peter and James between them as some kind of comfort zone buffer. But breakfast with Peter was something he normally avoided – for good reasons. And the whole thing hadn't been made better by the fact that Dumbledore had felt compelled to stand up after they were finished and make an unexpected public announcement:

"After this weekend's stunning new revelations," his sparkling eyes had fallen on the two Gryffindor boys who became suddenly very interested in their food, "the Professors and I decided we could all learn a lesson from this and embrace the love that surrounds us all," another look in Remus and Sirius' direction, who was currently occupied coughing up his pumpkin juice upon hearing the word _love_. Professor McGonagall had looked as though _she_ had most definitely not had any part in this, judging by the thinness of her lips. "Therefore, I had Professor Flitwick put up some more mistletoes around the castle – with the distinction that those have been made invisible." Dumbledore had looked pretty pleased about his idea.

Quiet whispers had been heard around the entire Great Hall as several students had looked around to see if they could spot any invisible mistletoes. They hadn't been very successful, obviously. Lily Evans had suddenly become very white and had eyed James suspiciously. James himself, on the other hand, had looked as if Christmas had come early: "Bloody brilliant," he had exclaimed towards Sirius. "Now the only thing I need to do is find one of those things and get Evans to pass me while I stand under it!" In his excitement, it had been lost on James that his best friend didn't show much reaction to his newfound admiration of Dumbledore's plans.

"We will also hold a Feast on Christmas Eve with some special surprises. Its highlight will be the awarding of a prize for the couple with the highest romantic potential. Any two people who think they might have a chance to win can come to one of our dear Heads of Houses here," he had pointed towards the Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Slughorn and McGonagall with the latter being by far the most intimidating of the four, "and get their romantic potential tested from two days prior to the Feast. There competition is quite obvious, I think."

By now, Remus had been completely sure that Dumbledore harboured a secret sadistic side. Never before had he thought one bad thing about the Headmaster. But these new developments had effectively hindered his mind from remembering any good words he ever used in reference to Dumbledore. Peter had starred him out of his thoughts by nervously reminding him it was time to make their way to their first lesson.

After that, Remus had endured one long Charms lesson in which he had tried to focus on his notes rather than the backside of Sirius' head before him. It hadn't taken him long to decide it would be easier to try and find one of those invisible mistletoes after all... Nevertheless, eventually Charms had ended and after finding his sacred library occupied, Remus now spent his free period in the company of plants. He wondered briefly if he should call it an advancement or degradation, before he banned any thought that didn't have to do with school and picked up his book to study.

**x**-**x**-**x**

History of Magic was boring as usual. No, that wasn't really true, Sirius corrected himself. It was even more boring than usual because the person who sat next to him had apparently decided never to acknowledge his presence again. Let alone talk to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius secretly examined his friend. He was pale, but that was nothing new. The fact that he was taking notes in History of Magic would have been a clue to anyone else's state of mind, but for Remus, sadly, this was ordinary behaviour.

After a while, because Sirius couldn't stand one more minute of simply listening to Professor Binns' voice anymore, he decided the silence between them had dragged on long enough. He quickly bent over his parchment and wrote in his messy handwriting: _Are you still angry at me?_ Then he slipped Remus the note, somewhat nervously awaiting his reaction. He didn't have to wait long, however, because Remus simply balled the paper up without even sparing it one glance.

Well, there was his answer. It wasn't very satisfying, though.

But Sirius Black wouldn't be Sirius Black if he let that discourage him. He kept sending Remus notes, but the content changed with every trashed note.

Note #2:_ Moony, I'm sorry. Stop ignoring me, please?_

Note #3:_ Rem, talk to me._

Note #4_: You're not being very polite, Moony._

Note #7:_ Professor Binns wouldn't notice us exchanging notes if we would let him sign them first. Of course, exchanging would require you to reply. And maybe even read them._

Note #9:_ Your hair looks strange._

Note #11_: I believe the sky is pink with green dots._

Note #13:_ I want to have a sheep for Christmas. I'm getting you a cow, if you want. Or if you don't want that, I'll get you a rhino._

Note #18:_ Remus John Lupin, you bloody prat! Will you have the decency to answer my carefully devised notes!_

By the end of the double lesson, he was wholeheartly angry with his friend. It wasn't his blasted fault they had walked side by side when they passed the mistletoe and he definitely hadn't asked for any sort of romantic potential with Remus either. What was his damn problem?

**x**-**x**-**x**

They spent the lunch break in the library again, because – as James put it – "We still need to find the spell so I will be able to find out exactly how high our romantic potential is when I am standing under the mistletoe with my sweet Lilyflower, otherwise Lily will claim we have just enough for the mistletoes to pick up and that it isn't really relevant." Sirius thought he had a point, because there was no way Lily Evans would admit she ought to give James a chance if she could still find a way around it. But Sirius didn't have his mind on James' love life right now. He was still furious about Remus' behaviour. He told James about his diverse attempts of getting his attention and how the young werewolf had ignored every single one. After he was done raging, James replied calmly:

"I get that. After all, you did do him a favour."

Sirius looked up at him from his clenched fists. "You noticed that, huh?" he said resigned and James simply nodded.

For a while, both boys were silent.

"Too bad Remus has no idea," Sirius sighed as he picked out one of the various books to help James with his search.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>So? Hated it? Loved it? Didn't care about it at all? Tell me in a review! (Yes, I am addicted and no, I don't want to change anything about it.) Next chapter will probably be up tomorrow evening or, at the latest, Sunday afternoon. You'll get some SiriusRemus talk then! :)

Cya XXX


	4. We all know you love me

A/N: It's the shortest one yet, but it's got Remus/Sirius interaction, so I hope you'll forgive me.

Review Responses:

**AMPebbles**: I must admit I never watched A Very Potter Musical – and it's really a shame, but I just never seem to find the time. But I will eventually, and then I'll pay special attention to Dumbledore so I can find out what you mean. Concerning the fate of our cute pups (and James and Lily, of course), sorry, I am not authorised to give out that information just yet... *lol*

**Miss R.E: Mulvey**: Thank you!

**Guro**: Thanks! :)

**anonymous**: No, I'm simply trying to have a life. ;) …but I'm failing miserably, so why bother?

**Fabela**: Better late than never! And I totally get the lazy part – I'm currently at war with my review laziness, too (I find it far too annoying to have like over 100 visitors for a chapter and get around 5 reviews…) So I forgive you, if you review every chapter from now on. ;) It was intentional to confuse you guys, but no worries, it'll clear up in this chapter (Sirius Black always has reasons for his actions – okay, maybe not ones everyone get, but he does have them. lol. But this time he actually had a good reason!). Thanks for you review, I don't mind the rambling at all! (P.S. I'm Cya and I wonder if I should be concerned by the fact that you want to stalk me. :D)

**thebritish-elle**: Thank you! *blushes* Hope you like this one, too.

Chapter Four: We all know you love me

On Tuesday morning Sirius decided he had had enough. Remus still insisted on giving him the silent treatment and when he simply ignored Sirius question about what time it was and proceeded to the bathroom, Sirius stood fuming for a few seconds before he resolutely followed him.

The door banged against the wall and Remus, who had just removed his pyjama top, gaped at him. Sirius disregarded how undeniably cute Remus looked with his tousled morning hair and the confused look on his face.

"Your behaviour is ridiculous!" he started right off instead. "You know perfectly well that I asked for this as much as you did! And ignoring me, of all things, Remus? Of course you could go on to do that, but we all know you love me, so-"

This was normal Sirius talk, but considering the latest developments, maybe it hadn't been the cleverest thing to say. It was rare that Sirius wished he would have thought before he said something, but this was such a moment. He stared at Remus who stared back, his astonied expression mirroring Sirius'.

"-so since you know I didn't do anything to deserve this, you'll stop ignoring me in the end anyway," Sirius ended lamely.

"You didn't do anything?" Remus replied and Sirius could tell by his voice that he was more than a little angry. "What about the fact that we would have had a lot less audience in two weeks, but no, Sirius doesn't want this hanging over his head for the next fourteen days, screw Remus' wishes, it would be asking far too much for the glorious Sirius Black to endure two damn weeks of _dreading_ this," Remus quoted what he had said earlier that week. "Seriously, I'm not that bad of a kisser, am I?"

From the colour of his face Sirius could tell Remus hadn't meant to say the last sentence. He chuckled lightly.

"No Moony, you're not," he answered, ignored Remus' gasp and turned serious again. "However, I think one person in this room isn't aware of the fact that two weeks from Saturday would have been the day after the full moon – and that person is clearly not me," Sirius said and watched with amusement how Remus' eyes got bigger and bigger.

_Of course_, Remus thought. _He's right. And that would have meant I would have had to leave the Hospital Wing far too soon and everyone would have seen my wounds and maybe would have realised what I am after all. How stupid do I have to be to forget that simple fact?_

"Oh," was what he said out loud. Sirius had a hard time not to laugh in his face – simply seeing the young werewolf this ruefully caused Sirius to act as if nothing ever happened – he was already forgiven.

"Let's go to breakfast," Sirius said, ignored the fact that Remus was still only half dressed and threw his arm over the younger boy's shoulder to lead him out of the bathroom. The second he touched Remus he thought better of it – it confused him too much how it suddenly felt _good_ –, but he couldn't shy away instantly without making Remus aware to his change of feelings towards body contact with him. So he brushed it off as non-relevant and instead directed his thoughts to Quidditch.

**x**-**x**-**x**

"Ah good, you're talking again," James had said when he spotted Sirius and Remus walking towards the Gryffindor table together. Remus had been quite sure he didn't like the way his voice sounded so triumphant. And now, standing with his mouth slightly open next to Sirius who outrightly gaped at James, he was one hundred per cent positive he had been right.

"Absolutely, under no circumstances, whatever you blackmail me with, NO," he answered once he had found his voice back.

"No, mate. Just no," Sirius agreed with him, still staring unbelievingly at his best friend.

"Come on, we'd do it at night, no one would see it!" James said persuading.

Remus could only just stop himself from saying _You would_. That wasn't the point. The point was that he had no intention to ever kiss Sirius again. The two had taken to walking a few feet from each other at all times, not wanting to get stuck under any invisible mistletoes with each other. And now James sincerely suggested that they went to search for them? Was he mental?

"But I need to find one so I can get Lily under it, and you two are the only people I know to be affected for sure! How else am I to find an invisible mistletoe? Come on, you just have to walk through the castle until you find one, that's easy work," James assured them.

Sirius still shook his head vigorously.

"You two are my best friends, who else can I ask? Surely you want me to be happy?" James begged.

"I am your best friend, but there are some things you just don't ask your friends, and _that_ clearly is one of them," Sirius replied and his voice made it evident this was the last thing he was going to say to this matter.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Yes, I know, it's short, BUT I was a nice, hard-working writer yesterday and I wrote you this chapter PLUS a little SiriusRemus oneshot, if any of you are interested, it'll be up just a few minutes after this chapter. I normally don't do self-advertisement in my stories, but those are desperate times, they are. So go check it out if you want, but leave a review first, because surely you want me to be happy? ;)

Cya XXX


	5. Easy work

A/N: Sorry for the longer wait, I was a bit busy the last days... I did, however, take the time today to write you the longest chapter so far and for one, I am quite pleased with most of it, so this chapter is for all my reviewers, alerters and favouriters! I love you guys!

Review Responses:

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Me too, me too. We all know James can be quite the jerk from time to time. Enjoy the chapter!

**SiriusOrRemus**: Aww, that is indeed very sad. I hope this cheers you up!

Chapter Five: Easy work

Of course James got what he wanted in the end – he always got anything he wanted, if anything didn't include Lily Evans. Really, Sirius sometimes – only very occasionally and never really seriously – wished he wouldn't get Evans in the end, simply because he would be insufferable then. Most of the time, though, Sirius wished James _would_ get Evans, because he was insufferable about not having her as well, so the only difference would probably be if James was a happy or an unhappy insufferable best friend.

Sirius was pretty certain James had only gotten them to do it because after he had told him what he thought about it, James had realised how wrong it was to ask his friends for this and apologised instantly. They had all dropped the issue then, but James had looked miserable all day long, until in the end, both Remus and he had taken pity on him and given in. Sirius still wasn't sure whether it all had been genuine or simply an ingenious plan, but in the long run, that didn't really matter – nothing had come out of it anyway. It was currently 3 a.m. and so far they hadn't had any luck. Sirius was torn between being relieved they didn't encounter any invisible mistletoes and feeling just a tiny bit of disappointment because James' misery wasn't the only reason he'd agreed to do this, to be honest. A small part of him – really, really small, he would certainly assure you – had wanted to find out if he really did like to kiss his best friend, or if he just imagined those strange feelings he had started to feel for him.

At present, he and Remus were squeezed together under the invisibility cloak while James and Peter walked a few metres ahead of them, their eyes firmly on the Marauder's Map. It was a long time ago that all four of them could fit together under the cloak, but since they had the Map, they always knew if someone was coming anyway and could hide quickly enough. They may not be able to move under the invisibility cloak together,but because of their knowledge they could all easily hide under the cloak as long as they were still.

However, the three hour search had left them hungry and when Peter suggested they pay a quick visit to the kitchen, everyone agreed quite willingly. The walk there didn't take long as they didn't come across anyone to slow them down. At their destination, Peter tickled the pear and James and he went into the kitchen to get some food from the house-elves, leaving Sirius and Remus behind with the cloak.

"Easy work," Sirius muttered under his breath. "I'll show him easy work one day!" He yawned at the end of his statement and Remus laughed at him.

"At least it's over now. We only agreed to one night of searching," he replied, his relief showing.

"Yeah, you're ri- Bloody hell!" They had moved closer to the kitchen entrance while they were speaking, but were forced to stop two metres away from it.

Remus groaned audibly. "Seriously?" he exclaimed. "_Seriously_?"

"This is your fault for saying it was over before he were back in our dorm! You practically invited trouble!" Sirius told him a little huffed.

"How is this my fault, you think the stupid thing got ears and heard what I said and decided to come torture us?" Remus gave back, quirking his eyebrow.

"Well, all I know is that it's not my fault," Sirius persisted, but Remus could hear the grin in his voice. It was pretty dark in the corridor after James and Peter had left with their lightened wands, he noticed then; he couldn't even see Sirius' face properly.

"Really? You were the first one to give in at least," Remus reminded him, grinning as well.

"Oi, like you enjoyed seeing Prongs moping around all day. I did you a favour giving in first," the dark-haired boy claimed.

"How so?"

"Well you clearly didn't have the balls to admit it didn't bother you to kiss me again before I gave you a free ticket to do so," Sirius stared to where he knew Remus must be standing. Was he flirting with him?

"You're the one who said I wasn't a bad kisser," Remus gave back.

"You're the one who asked," Sirius insisted.

"Yeah, well… only because you sounded like you would rather like to kiss Professor Sprout or even McGonagall right then."

"Probably because I would have," Sirius said bluntly. He heard Remus gasp at his answer and hurried to add: "At least I could have had a chance to embarrass them."

"No worries, you did quite well embarrassing me," Remus assured him sourly.

"Yes," Sirius agreed. "But other than Sprout or Minnie I don't like to embarrass you."

Remus didn't answer for some time and Sirius wondered what was going on in his head.

"You're a good friend, Padfoot," Remus said in the end and it included more than that simple statement; it included all his gratitude at having Sirius as a friend; at having someone to stand by him through everything, regardless if it was the transformations or having alarmingly high romantic potential with each other.

"Of course I am," Sirius replied confidently when he couldn't stand the thick atmosphere anymore. Remus chuckled.

"Yes, of course," he agreed. Then, becoming serious once again: "Thank you anyway."

Sirius reached out into the darkness and found Remus' hand without much effort. He squeezed it lightly, but didn't let go afterwards.

"You don't need to thank me, Moony. It is a pleasure."

Remus smiled, feeling dangerously warm and fuzzy inside, but enjoying it for the moment. It felt too good to worry.

Then a lot of things happened at the same time: he heard how the portrait began to open again, heard James' voice from far away thanking the house-elves for their hospitality. But it all faded into a blur when he felt Sirius leaning into him and kissing him lightly on his lips, lingering just a second longer than Remus deemed necessary, but thousands of seconds less than Remus suddenly ached for. The fuzzy feeling still didn't leave his stomach, but when Sirius stepped away from him and let go of his hand, the worry he had pushed aside before threatened to overwhelm him. What was going on with him?

He didn't have time to think about it any longer though, since James and Peter stumbled out of the entrance, loaded with food and looked around them for their invisible friends.

"Moony, Padfoot, we got loads of food," James exclaimed. "Let's go back to the dorm and have a night feast."

Sirius threw a glance at Remus who he could now see was pretty flushed. He grinned at him mischievously, successfully suppressing every thought of how adorably he thought his friend looked right now.

"We found one," he declared towards James then, whose eyes instantly gleamed as he loaded Peter with his share of food as well (causing the smaller boy to sway critically under the weight) to step closer to Sirius' voice.

"Where?" he asked eagerly.

Sirius disengaged himself from the invisibility cloak leaving Remus the only hidden person in the corridor and pointed upwards. James directly marked the exact spot with a cross only the four of them could see – they had come across this spell in their fourth year and alternated it for their purposes – while Sirius went over to help Peter with the food. Remus stood still under the cloak and couldn't help following Sirius with his eyes.

**x**-**x**-**x**

Somehow they had made their way back to their dorm half an hour later where they celebrated the night's success with a very late midnight snack or probably rather a very early breakfast. Remus had no idea how they got back, but he remembered sharing the invisibility cloak with Peter this time, watching Sirius' back before him silently.

"You guys are officially my best friends," James said for the hundredth time that night, his good mood definitely not in danger to pass anytime soon.

"Not that we haven't been all these past years," Sirius gave back laughing. Remus looked at him, lost deeply in his thoughts. _Why_ could he just go on like usual? _Why_ didn't this affect him at all?

When James and Peter sorted through their food trying to find the last pastries and claiming them for themselves, Sirius turned his head to look at Remus. He had sensed his gaze on him all the time since the incident, as he had come to call it, in front of the kitchen. He lifted one eyebrow sent him a crooked half grin. Remus grew uncomfortable for getting caught staring, cursing the pink that showed on his cheeks again.

Remus only realised they had held each other's gazes when Sirius got distracted by James and broke it. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"And I've been right all along," James said proudly. "Everything played out perfectly and you two didn't get damaged in any way. Easy work," he concluded. Peter, who had picked up on Remus' quietness on their way back to the Gryffindor tower, looked at him sceptically.

"Ah hush, Wormtail," James said when he noticed his glance. "We didn't get caught, they are still talking to each other, and tomorrow Lily Evans will finally realise I've been the one all along!"

When Remus eventually went to bed later that night and tried to get his thoughts to turn anywhere but towards Sirius – a rather hard task, he found out –, he only knew one thing for sure: Easy work was _definitely_ the wrong choice of words.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>There, I put some extra fluffiness in there for you. I really hope you liked it! You know the game - leave a review and help me to get better (and faster)!<p>

Cya XXX


	6. Young love

A/N: Hello all my wonderful readers! I'm so sorry you had to wait so long for this update, but one of my Welsh relatives visited us and I hardly had any time to myself those past days. I tried to squeeze in some writing here and there every time she got ready in the morning (it takes incredibly long to do her hair), but it wasn't enough, so I spend today fixed to my chair writing the new chapter for you.

I can't tell you often enough how much your reviews mean to me. I would be a very frustrated and unhappy writer without you, so THANK YOU again for all your help and support. I would be lost without you!

Review Responses:**  
><strong>

**anonymous: **Thank you so much, I think I'm blushing...**  
><strong>

**SiriusOrRemus**: Oh, me too, me too! :) I'd just love Sirius/Remus (or maybe both?) in my arms right now.

**jkarhu**: Thank you very much! Yes, I'm normally not a very big fan of clichés, so I always try to use them a bit differently. A chapter from Dumbledore's POV… well that certainly sounds interesting. I think I just got an idea how I could do that. Thanks for the inspiration! You'll get Dumbledore's POV in one of the later chapters, just have a little patience. :) I'm from Germany myself so no worries, I understood your review perfectly. Your English teacher seems to be a very wise person – that is exactly how I learned English as well. Writing works, too, by the way. ;)

**whiterabbit111**: Thanks! I love them, too.

**Lizzy0308**: Yes, I'm from Germany, I'm still learning English. Do you mind telling me an example for the odd verb tense, I could pay a closer look then. I always try to improve. :) On the other issue, of course I can't make a comment to that now... we'll see. ;)**_  
><em>**

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Yeah, that seems to be his fate, doesn't it? Aww, poor Moony.

**Cat**: You can find part of Sirius' reaction in this chapter, though more is to come definitely...

**Whimsical Desert**: Thank you so much for your review, it makes me happy to hear you enjoy my story and my writing. And it's definitely refreshing to hear someone is waiting patiently. ;)

**Weasleyfanatic**: Thanks. :) Did you survive the wait or do I have to send an ambulance? ;)

**i need to sign in**: Thank you! More following just underneath the chapter title. :)

**claire-whitmore**: Thank you very much! Dumbledore is always fun to write, he's just so brilliant.

It's a lot of Lily/James in this chapter, but Remus and Sirius are definitely back for the next chapter (one I'm very excited about!). So enjoy today's read, I hope you like it!

Chapter Six: Young love

The next morning passed in a blur for Sirius. He didn't notice what he had for breakfast, didn't pay any attention in Potions and had no idea how he ended up in the library in his free period. Instead, he noticed how Remus only picked at his pancakes, chose to sit next to Peter instead of his usual seat next to Sirius and didn't talk to him all day. He also noticed how absolutely brilliant Remus was and how absolutely he shouldn't think those things about his best friend.

Right now, Remus took control over the library search James still insisted on: "Well, it seems you've checked the whole Charms section… As it has something to do with the mistletoes, I would try finding something about them in the Herbology section and search for cross-reference to the spell. Additionally, I would try the History of Magic section – I bet they used the spell in the past to find compatible marriage partners."

Sirius stared at his best friend admiringly. The way he talked it occurred to him how stupid they had been to even _hope_ of finding anything about the spell without him.

"Oi Moony, you're too smart for your age," James said grinning, but you could hear the thankfulness in his voice. "I'll try History of Magic first," he decided. Before anyone could react to that, Remus followed James some wards to the left, away from Sirius, who tried not to care. Why were they back to avoiding each other? Well, Sirius of course knew it was because of the kiss last night, he wasn't stupid after all. But they had agreed to go and try to find a mistletoe, so they had agreed to the possibility of more kissing, hadn't they? So why couldn't Remus stand his presence anymore? It wasn't as obvious as it had been after the first time: Remus still answered his questions, still spend time with the four of them, but he didn't start any conversations, he replied monosyllabically to everything Sirius asked him and he avoided being alone with him. On every other day, Sirius would probably not have noticed it or thought about it twice, but strangely, he happened to _want_ his presence, he wanted to talk to him, to see his eyes widen with astonishment, to make him smile or laugh or scold him even. He missed Remus.

He stared after him for a long time, until Peter nervously jarred him out of his thoughts. He remembered he was supposed to search the Herbology section for the romantic potential spell. Sighing, he got to work, resolutely banning a certain boy from his thoughts.

**x**-**x**-**x**

They had come up empty again when it was time to go to lunch. They exited the library together and began to hurry to the Great Hall. James, who knew they would pass the invisible mistletoe on their way, kept his eyes open for Lily.

When he spotted her a few metres ahead of them and only a four steps away from the mistletoe, he sped up and caught up with her, panting heavily when he reached her. Lily frowned but ignored him as he kept walking by her side. Under the invisible mistletoe, she had to stop. Slowly, she turned around to him, the annoyance visible on her face.

"James Potter, what did you do now?" she spat and James quickly stopped grinning triumphantly at her.

Remus, Peter and Sirius came to a halt within safe distance of the two and followed their conversation with their eyes.

"What do you mean, Evans?" James said innocently, but she wasn't fooled.

"Why can't I move?" Lily asked, hoping against hope the reason wasn't what she thought it was. She glanced up unnecessarily only to see nothing like she expected.

Against his better knowledge, James grinned again. "You, dear Lily, seem to have quite the romantic potential with me, despite your efforts to deny so."

Lily narrowed her eyes as she stared at the walking devil himself. "I do not," she insisted.

"Why would you be stuck under an invisible mistletoe with me if you didn't?" James asked an annoyingly sensible question. How absolutely Lily loathed this guy!

"Well, that, that's only… we probably just have slightly enough potential for the mistletoe to notice it, it doesn't mean anything," she said weakly. James had known she would react like this all along. He wished he had the spell, but it occurred to him suddenly that she wouldn't believe him even if he could perform it. She would think he manipulated it somehow – she would believe anything if that meant she didn't have to accept the fact that just maybe, she should give them a chance.

"I would bet my snitch that's not true," he answered only to hear Lily snort.

"I thought you liked your snitch," she said smugly. James just nodded.

"I do," he replied. "But not even close to as much as I like you." When she didn't respond, he added: "Besides, I would win."

"You would not."

"Oh yes I would," James grinned.

"No you wouldn't!" She grew angrier every minute, and while James knew it was a bad sign, he couldn't stop thinking she was most beautiful when she was this passionate.

He regarded her for a while, then he smirked at her and suggested: "Let's make a deal."

"I'm not making any deals with you," Lily told him fiercely.

"You should hear me out first," James said and ruffled his hair nervously. "How high do you think is our romantic potential at the maximum?"

She stared at him angrily, but answered anyway: "Between 50 and 60 per cent."

James grinned. "I bet it's at least 80%."

"Never!" Lily exclaimed, but James ignored her outburst. "We'll get our romantic potential tested by Professor McGonagall the day before Christmas. If you're right, and we have under 60 per cent – 65 even –, I'll leave you alone. I'll stop trying to get you to give me a chance." He sounded sad at those words, sadder as Lily had ever seen him before. Her gaze turned softer as she heard his words.

"Why should you do that?" She was confused. James Potter giving up on her? Somehow that prospect left her feeling numb. It would be strange. A relief, of course, but still strange. He'd followed her all those years now, she was actually getting used to it.

"Because if it's above 80%, you'll go out with me and give us a real chance," he said. Lily wanted to laugh at him, but somehow she couldn't.

"What if it's in between?" she asked although everything in her screamed not to lean him on.

"Everything will go on as usual – I'll ask you out and you'll say no and I'll ask you out again and hope you'll say yes one day, though of course you won't." Lily hated how his words implied he had realised long ago he didn't really have a chance with her, but still tried anew every day. She felt guilty, but she reminded herself there was no need to – she was right after all, James Potter didn't really care for her.

"So?" James asked and brought her back to reality with that.

"No," she answered automatically. James' face fell, but he collected himself in no time.

"You're just scared I win," he teased her.

"Definitely not!" Lily protested, though if she were honest, she was. After all, no one would have imagined Remus and Sirius to have any romantic potential and theirs was extremely high – couldn't that happen to her, too? Even if it was with the damned James Potter.

"Yes, you are. If you weren't, you'd be agreeing to this deal in no time – the prospect of getting rid of me must be so sweet to you," despite his best efforts he sounded bitter. Lily swallowed.

"No, I simply don't trust you on your word to do that," she insisted. James looked hurt.

"I would trust you on yours," he replied simply and Lily felt even more guilty. She hadn't wanted to offend him. She studied his face for a while, he looked more genuine than ever.

"Alright," she agreed in the end, already regretting this decision when she saw the smile spread over his face. "Now can I please go to lunch?"

"You know how," James replied, grinning once again. Lily stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't really expect her to do that, could he?

"No!"

"Well then I suppose we'll be standing here for quite some time," James answered.

"I'm not kissing you, Potter! Never in a million years!" Every sympathy she might have felt for him before was gone as she yelled at him. James took it like he always did, countering with his usual confident remarks. The argument went on hot as ever. They were back to normal.

"Ah, young love. Isn't it beautiful, Moony?" Sirius said with a grin, not looking away from James and Lily. Remus, who stood beside him, felt his face redden again.

"Yeah… I, uh, I have to go – forgot something – I'll catch up with you!" he said and bolted. Sirius took his eyes from the arguing pair in front of him and stared after his best friend, frowning.

**TBC**

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><p>Not so much SiriusRemus interaction today, but stay tuned for the next chapter, it revolves almost completely around them. It's almost finished, too - it's going to be called _Something great_. Reviews would make my day!

Love, Cya XXX**  
><strong>


	7. Something great

A/N: So, here is the seventh chapter which has a lot Remus/Sirius to make up for last chapter. Not much pretalk from me today - just enjoy!

Review Responses:

**HermioneGrangerisME**: He did indeed! He just had incredibly good arguments, lol (see this chapter for a short mention of it...). Here's your update. :)

**Lizzy0308**: I already replied to you by message, so I don't really have much more to say... just thank you again for your help and praise, it makes me smile and want to write (which is always a good thing! :)).

**SiriusOrRemus**: I don't read that much James/Lily myself and while I do love them, when I feel like reading something from the Marauders Era, I usually end up with Sirius/Remus... *grins* But occasionally a nice James/Lily fic is great, I think. :) Today's chapter focuses more on Sirius and Remus again, though, and I hope this one satisfies you just as much!

**cutegixie**: Thank you so much, I love that deal, too. It just seems like a thing James would do, with him being so confident that they really fit so well together...

Chapter Seven: Something great

After lunch, which Remus had apparently skipped, their next lesson was Transfiguration again. Sirius intentionally waited for Remus to come back and sit down first before he slid in the seat beside him only seconds before the lesson began.

"Hi Moony," Sirius said quietly to which Remus only replied a small "hi" himself. Sirius frowned while Remus focused on Professor McGonagall's explanations on their new assignment. Fifteen minutes into the lesson, Sirius grew tired of the silence. Everyone around him had started to make notes, with the exception of James who stared at the back of Lily's head (he had persuaded her the sooner she kissed him, the sooner she would get rid of him which was the only reason they weren't stuck to the spot in the basement anymore) which caused her to angrily turn around several times and shoot him yet another death glare. Sirius nudged Remus with his elbow to get his attention. Remus looked up at him annoyed.

_What? _he formed with his lips. "I'm bored," Sirius replied in an effort to start a conversation, but Remus just rolled his eyes and turned back to his notes. He had tried to hide it, but Sirius had seen the slight distance he had put between them.

"Remus," Sirius tried again, but Professor McGonagall heard it and shot him a warning glance. When the Professor looked away again and carried on with her lesson, Sirius pulled a sheet of parchment towards him and took his quill in his hand. Then he stared at the parchment blankly. He knew what he wanted to know, but how should he phrase it? Slowly, he wrote _Are we okay?_ in black ink. He looked at the words for a long time and felt his heart beat speed up against his will. Finally, he pushed the sheet across the table and hold his breath while waiting for Remus to answer.

As Remus read the words, he sighed silently. He checked quickly if Professor McGonagall looked over and when he knew she didn't he put his quill down to the paper and wrote his response. He pushed the parchment back towards Sirius, careful not to look at him in the process.

Sirius looked down on the note and bit his lip hard. He felt his heart drop as he saw Remus' honest answer: _No._

He hurried to write a simple but sincere _Why?_ underneath and gave the note back to his friend.

It took Remus even longer to reply to this than before. When Sirius got the paper back from him, he swallowed hard before he looked at his reply. There, in Remus' neat handwriting, was just one word: _94%_.

**x**-**x**-**x**

After the lesson, the four friends exited the classroom together to go back to their Common Room, since their lessons were finally over for the day and they had no energy left for another library search. Remus walked next to James and Sirius quietly. When they were on the seventh floor, he suddenly felt a hand grab his and before he could figure out what was going on, he found himself face to face with Sirius in the Room of Requirement. The door closed behind them with a quiet thud.

"What are you doing?" he asked Sirius with a bewildered expression. Sirius grinned at him smugly.

"Fixing us," he stated simply. Remus stared at him in confusion, but when Sirius didn't elaborate, he gave up for the moment and noticed their surroundings for the first time.

"Why does it look like we're in the owlery?" he wanted to know. A low hooting sound came from the ceiling and he looked up to see real owls flying around the room.

Sirius shrugged. "That's where I wanted to talk to you initially, but it was too far away now."

"Why did you want to talk to me in the _owlery_ of all places?"

His opponent shrugged again. "I don't know…" he said but somehow Remus noticed a slight pink colour creeping onto his cheeks which amused him, because Sirius Black didn't _blush_. He tried to remember why the owlery could be special to Sirius. The owlery is where the owls are, obviously, so it probably had something to do with post, but his family never sent Sirius anything he cared about. James' parents would sometimes send them joined letters, but they arrived in the Great Hall or the Common Room. The owlery was more a place you went to when you wanted to send a letter yourself or when you wanted to be alone with your thoughts. Remus stopped. The owlery was where _he_ went when he wanted to think and it was the place Sirius had once found him in their second year. They had been friends before, but that event had brought them closer than ever. It was the beginning of the close friendship they had, the friendship that threatened to fall apart now.

He faced Sirius again who still stood close to him. They looked into each other's eyes for a while until both of them grew uncomfortable and realised at the same time that Sirius hadn't let go of Remus' hand since he had dragged him in there. He released it quickly and looked away.

"I think I should go," Remus said quietly.

"Absolutely not!" protested Sirius, facing him again. "We're in here so you can't ran away."

"I'm not running away. I just… I don't think talking will help. It won't change anything. We can't just talk and then go back to normal."

"Why did we go away from normal anyway?" Sirius asked; his words so naïve; the question of a child.

"You know damn well it's because of this romantic potential crap!" Remus stared at Sirius angrily. How could he even imply it didn't mean anything at all, that it didn't change their relationship?

"I just mean…" Sirius stopped and sighed. "Sit down," he ordered then.

"What? Why?"

"Just sit down," he said and sat down himself. He looked up to Remus expectantly. Remus groaned, sat down on the small ledge beside him and turned to his best friend.

"I just mean," Sirius started again and looked Remus sincerely in the eyes, "that the only thing that changed between us is the fact that we found out we've got high romantic potential – and you're the walking dictionary, I'm rather surprised you react like this, you know just as well as I do that _potential_ simply means there is a _possibility_ we would work well romantically, not that it's a _necessity_," Remus thought he sounded far too wise, "I mean we could just ignore it – surely it wouldn't be the first time two people with romantic potential are just friends."

Sirius looked at him insistently, his eyes desperately pleading with Remus to see his point, to make things right between them. Remus said nothing and Sirius leaned forward a bit towards him, looking more sincere than ever.

"I don't want to lose you because we fit together so well," he said. "That would be pretty ridiculous, wouldn't it?" He laughed a high, faked laugh, still paying the closest attention to every movement of Remus' face, anything to give him a hint at what he was thinking.

Remus sighed and did the only thing he could do: he agreed with him. When he saw Sirius' face full of relief, he knew it had been the right decision, despite the way his stomach felt when he saw Sirius smile at him and stand, helping Remus up in the process as well. They left the room together in silence, both hoping for a fresh start; both hoping to forget the fact that somehow, they still felt like they left behind something great in this room.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Awww, they are so blind, but so adorable! :) I thought about maybe making a oneshot out of the story in the owlery after this fic is finished... what do you think?<p>

Anyway, thank you guys for reading, I hope you liked it. Reviews, of course, always make my day - there's simply no better way to know what my readers are thinking. It's inspiring and helps me get better and makes me happy and... what I'm saying is: review please! :)

Cya XXX


	8. Petitions, Cupcakes & Certain Magazines

A/N: Sooo, here I am again. Today's chapter will focus a little more on Sirius and it'll have some long-overdue Sirius/James friendship talk. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget it's you guys who keep me going! I'd be nothing without you. :)

Review Responses:

**Lizzy0308**: Nooo, I didn't want to break your heart! Maybe an update can mend it? Well, give them time. They can't be _that_ dumb, can they? ;)

**Whimsical Desert**: They are, but like you said, that's why there are so cute together. You simply _have_ to love them! I'll probably write the one-shot after this fic is complete. And then... well, let's just say I've got some more plans. ;)

**SiriusOrRemus**: Oh, I'm sorry you had a bad day. But I'm happy I could make it any better. :)

**HermioneGrangerisME**: I think there was an accident with your caps lock key, lol. Sirius would like me to tell you that he doesn't enjoy doing what he's supposed to be doing, surely you must know that, so how can you blame him?

**evol love**: Thanks! :)

**cutegixie**: Thank you! I think Remus is not the only one who has to figure out some stuff, though. There is a certain black-haired boy who appears to be just as in denial as he is... sadly.

**claire-whitmore**: I get the funny feeling you might want Sirius and Remus to kiss... now where did I get that from? ;)

**Cat**: Well, if not in the owlery, where then? ;)

**anonymous**: Don't worry, I'll get it - you are hereby forgiven. :) And I love to make people scream. lol (sorry, I had to say that)

**TheLuciferPerson**: Wouldn't dream of giving it up. Thank you! :)

Chapter Eight: Petitions, Cupcakes and Certain Magazines

For the next few days, Remus tried hard to see Sirius' point of view. It was what they both wanted after all, wasn't it? Their nice, easy friendship back. But somehow he still felt strange about the whole situation. Was he supposed to simply forget everything that had happened? He had tried that, oh yes he had. But he couldn't. He managed to forget these… feelings for Sirius alright when he was alone somewhere, but then he had to go to classes or into the dormitories and there he was, laughing most of the time, looking utterly gorgeous all of the time. And his stomach would do this strange flip it definitely hadn't done back before all this meeting under mistletoes had happened and his mind would remember Sirius' smell and the softness of his skin, the warmth of his hands and the hotness of his breath and all those other things that made Remus want… just want.

Basically, it had went okay for the next days after the talk in the Room of Requirement, at lot of pretending had taken place, but for a few days, it had worked. Until Saturday, when Sirius' body decided to do something stupid and Remus' brain, in turn, decided to do something even stupider.

It was the day of the second quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, and the Gryffindor team showed very different reactions to this. Andrew, their keeper, looked like he might throw up every minute, but he did this every time so no one was very surprised; James covered the fact that he ate hardly anything by showing off in front of the other team and finally, Sirius, who would normally support James in his activity energetically, merely sat beside him and tried to keep the smug grin on his face to display his confidence effectively.

"Padfoot, is everything okay?" James asked him when they proceeded to the Gryffindor changing rooms after breakfast.

"What? Oh yeah, sure," Sirius assured him quickly.

James gave him the look – the You-know-that-was-a-pretty-bad-lie-it-takes-a-lot-more-to-fool-a-Marauder-look. "This hasn't by any chance to do with our cute little friend?" Raising one eyebrow, looking like he already knew everything.

"You just said Remus was cute," Sirius replied, thunderstruck.

James began to laugh. "The fact that you immediately thought of Remus upon hearing the word _cute_ might tell you something."

Sirius made a face. "No, I simply know that no one in their right mind would ever call _Peter_ cute," he said.

"Since when I am in my right mind?" James reminded him ("Point taken", he heard Sirius mutter next to him). Then, "Sirius, are you _blushing_?"

"What? No, you know I never blush!" Sirius answered and turned his head, trying to hide his flushed face. With the incident in the Room of Requirement, this made two times in the past week he'd blushed already. What was wrong with him?

"Oh, you're so blushing. I don't believe it! Sirius Black, blushing over Remus Lupin!"

Sirius turned back to James now. "Could you try to keep it down a bit? I don't want to ever see another pro-gay petition shoved in my face again," he said, remembering the last Sunday when a few girls had approached him in the library after Remus left and told him all about their little gay-supporting club, asking for his signature. He'd denied it, of course.

The memory of Sirius' face made James laugh and Sirius glared at him. "You wouldn't find that so funny if Bobby Braun called _you_ his Dreamy Cupcake."

James had a hard time responding through his laughter. When he finally caught his breath again, he pointed out, grinning, "Well, at least your offers are increasing. Some more options won't hurt, even if we all know who really has your heart." Still chuckling. That bastard.

A few girls who had walked behind them now passed the two boys and tried to hide their laughter.

"Prongs, I'm going to kill you one day," Sirius threatened and he was quite serious, but James didn't even seem to notice.

"Yeah, yeah, it's all a coincidence, it doesn't really mean anything, bla bla. Fact is you two always had a special relationship."

"I'm not gay, James!" Sirius protested.

James stopped and faced him. Hesitantly, Sirius came to a halt as well. They stood only a few steps away from the entrance to the changing rooms. "You might be and you might not be and I don't really care, as long as it's not my butt you're after," James joked when Sirius cut him off: "I'm not. You should know that, James, I did almost every girl in Hogwarts. Gosh, we discovered porn magazines together in our third year!"

Even through his outburst, Sirius had time to appreciate how easily James complied to accept him for what he was, even if he was totally deluded as to what Sirius really was. But the gesture was nice nonetheless.

"I don't think the point is whether or not you're gay. I think the point is whether or not you like Moony. It might just be him." James' words made too much sense to Sirius; he didn't want to think about it, why couldn't he just leave him alone?

"Just think about it," James said, turned and entered the changing room. Sirius shook his head to clear it and promised himself that he definitely would not think about it. Even _if_ there was the _slightest_ possibility he might actually have the _tinniest_ feelings for Remus, it wouldn't change anything now, not after the decision they made in the Room of Requirement. As Sirius followed James into the changing rooms, he had no idea why this thought made him feel so empty.

**x**-**x**-**x**

Half an hour later, the Quidditch match began. It started out really good, they scored quite early in the game and the spectators were elated. And for the first twenty minutes, Sirius actually forgot about Remus, their supposed romantic potential and the strange flip his stomach seemed to be doing whenever he saw his best friend altogether.

Then the stupid part began. He was just flying past a Gryffindor stand, showing off in front of the viewers and… _winked_. And while the girls in the first and second row still argued loudly with each other at whom of them his wink was directed, a boy in the third row had went tomato red, because he knew for a fact that the black-haired boy had looked at him while he winked. Said boy was Remus Lupin.

Sirius flew away from the stand the second it happened and he didn't return near it the whole match.

**x**-**x**-**x**

"I'm going to _kill_ you!" Sirius said the minute the game was over (Gryffindor won of course, no thanks to Sirius) and he got a moment with James alone. James, who had no idea why Sirius was so agitated, looked at him confused.

"Already? I thought you said you're going to kill me _one day_?"

"Today is that day! How do you dare to say all this stuff about me and Moony directly before the match!"

"Moony and me," James corrected and Sirius wanted to punch his grinning face even more. "Why, what happened?"

Sirius muttered something James didn't quite understand. "Sorry?" he said and Sirius repeated it, louder this time, "I winked at him. I fucking _winked_ at him, Prongs! And don't you dare to even think of laughing," he added, sourly. James tried to cover up his chuckle by coughing, but measured by Sirius' glare, apparently he wasn't very successful.

"I hate you," Sirius said weakly before he sunk down on a nearby bench.

"You love me. A very platonic, brotherly love, I might add," James said grinning.

"No, I'm quite sure I hate you," Sirius replied confidently.

"You're simply confused with your feelings at the moment."

"Honestly James, can't you stop it? At least for today," the black-haired boy looked so exhausted that James decided to give him some space.

"Alright, alright, backing off," James held his hands up. "But you _are_ awfully touchy about this," he couldn't stop but add.

Sirius just growled. His friend looked at him and sighed.

"Come on, let's change and go up, there's gonna be a party in the Common Room. Maybe that'll lighten your mood," James suggested.

Well lighten his mood it did, as Sirius would find out some hours later. But at what price?

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Next chapter: Remus' reaction and what his (stupid?) brain decides! I hope you liked it and you'll stay tuned for next chapters!<p>

Cya (who loves reviews!) XXX


	9. Certainty

A/N: On with the brain decision! :)

Review Responses:

**Siriushpluvr**: Me, too! Lol, I'm always fascinated where those two take me!

**claire-whitmore**: You betcha! ;)

**evol love**: You just taught me a word! Bromance… never heard that one before. I love learning new words. :) As for Remus' stupid brain… you gotta keep two things in mind... First, I put a question mark behind stupid in my A/N at the end of the chapter, so the decision could be seen as totally stupid or not stupid at all by different people… Second, I also said Sirius' body was stupid to wink at Remus – do you feel that was a stupid thing for him to do? ;) Read and see for yourself if you would call the decision stupid...

**SiriusOrRemus**: Oh, me too! I would love to imagine even for a second that Sirius would wink at me. But I'd also grant Remus his wink, 'cause you just gotta love the Remus/Sirius love! :) As for his brain's decision… see today's chapter!

**Lizzy0308**: Hm, then maybe this chapter cheers you up even more – realisation is a good thing, is all I'm saying. ;)

**Cat**: Wouldn't we all love us some winks from Sirius? ;)

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Well now, that's not very polite, is it? :D Don't ask me how that's James' fault, though, it's Sirius-logic, I'm not privileged to understand it...

**Gwen McLean**: Aww, thank you! I try my best to keep them in character; it's their character that made us fall in love with them after all, isn't it? (Oh well and their hotness, of course...) And I don't think your English was bad, I understood everything. :)

Chapter Nine: Certainty

Sirius Black had winked at him – him, Remus Lupin! It just didn't make any sense. Remus' face was still slightly pinker than it should after the match had ended. When he arrived in close proximity to the Common Room and could hear the voices and the loud music being played, he realised he hadn't even noticed which team had won until now. Peter babbled on next to Remus, but he hadn't heard a word. He climbed through the portrait hole to find out that there was indeed a party going on inside, as the noise had suggested. The Quidditch players were already in the middle of things, short for James and Sirius though, who were still absent. Relief flooded Remus and he paved the way for him and Peter to sit in a corner.

The party was still in full swing around eleven o'clock when James, who had arrived with Sirius a little later, pointed out the fact that they were running out of Firewhiskey and even Butterbeer. Them being the Marauders, could they really leave someone else to care for it? According to James, that wasn't even an option. So it happened that James handed Remus the map together with the words that left no doubt any objection would be useless, "Take Sirius with you."

**x**-**x**-**x**

Sirius was already quite drunk, which Remus supposed was the reason James told Remus to go with him, since Remus – in contrast to all of his friends, really – was still pretty sober. He did find it a little odd that James wouldn't come along himself, but then again, he'd probably want to keep an eye on Lily (who was also still very sober and therefore still ignoring him).

The beginning of their walk was made without uttering a word, but what had been practical silence in the nightly corridors of Hogwarts felt heavy and oppressive in the tunnel that led to Honeydukes. The cold air in the tunnel helped to clear Sirius' head a bit, but not enough to keep his mouth from asking, "Do you think we've got a special relationship?"

Remus stopped dead at his words, causing the animagus to run into him as he had led the way. "What?"

"James said we've got a special relationship," Sirius explained.

"What does he mean by 'special'?" Remus asked warily before he decided if he said anything to that.

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno. I s'ppose… different."

"Every relationship is different," Remus said relieved and continued walking. "Just take the relationship between you and James and you and Wormtail… they are utterly different. Of course our relationship would be different from those as well."

"Ah Moony, you make too much sense…"

"How can one make _too much_ sense?"

"It hurts my brain," Sirius complained.

"And here I was thinking you had anything deep and meaningful to say," Remus replied, grinning.

"Maybe tomorrow," Sirius said and flashed him a smile that looked so utterly gorgeous in the dim wand light that Remus had to swallow and force his gaze from his friend.

"Look, we're nearly there," he pointed out a few minutes later when he could make out the end of the tunnel. Soon they reached it and climbed into the dark shop.

"Okay, let's hurry and get the stuff we need and then go back, it's getting late," he told Sirius who nodded. They exited the shop and went to get everything they were supposed to take. Sirius snatched an extra bottle of Firewhiskey on the way out and by the time they got back to the tunnel, he had already opened it and brought it to his lips a few times.

After they were out of earshot of the shop owners, who slept just above Honeydukes, Remus said to him: "Don't you think you've got enough?"

"No," Sirius answered simply. "My head was starting to think again. Had to prevent that."

"I see," Remus replied sarcastically. Sirius only laughed and took another sip and so they were back to silence.

"Sirius?" Remus asked carefully after a while, hesitance in his voice.

"Hm?" Sirius made in response.

"Do you ever wonder why _we_ happen to be the ones with romantic potential?" Remus wanted to know. "Just a week ago, everybody in this school would have bet that if any two of us have that, it would be you and James."

Out of the corner of his eye, Remus could see Sirius shake his head. "I wouldn't have," he surprised Remus by adding.

"No? Why not?"

Sirius took a breath to order this thoughts, they were swimming around in his head just as he had intended them to. Then he said slowly, "Do you know those friendships when you are so, so close to someone and they know basically everything about you – no secrets, no shame, nothing… but at the same time the reason you can feel so close is that you both know, with the utmost certainty, that it is and will be always just platonic?"

Remus didn't answer his question. Truth was, he didn't. He felt some kind of that certainty with James and Peter, but he wasn't as close to them as Sirius was to James. He didn't know everything about them, and they certainly didn't know everything about him. This, for example – he would never talk to any of them about this. "Why can't we have that certainty?" he asked then, regret and sadness filling his voice. He didn't think he would get any answer at all, but if he had, he certainly wouldn't have expected the answer he got.

"Because you're so cute, Remus… because you're just so damn cute," Sirius said and there were equal parts resignation and admiration in his voice. Remus looked at him, felt the now-familiar pink creep to his cheeks and realised that Sirius was really drunk by now. He wouldn't remember a thing about this conversation or basically anything that happened down here in the morning. For some reason, his brain decided that the only logical consequence of that was to use this chance to finally find out if the feelings he felt for Sirius were really more than just wanting a close friendship. At least then he would know. At least then he could make up a plan, some rules, anything. But he had to know first.

The stone wall was probably cold and uncomfortable in his back, but Sirius didn't seem to care. The kiss was hard and harsh, but quite mutual – Sirius didn't seem as surprised as Remus would have if the roles were reversed. And despite the fact that Remus had forbidden himself to feel anything – God, this was a great kiss. Brilliant, even. It wasn't a miracle all girls of Hogwarts wanted to be in his place. He had expected Sirius to taste like the alcohol he had consumed, or like the chocolate frogs he had eaten before they went down here, but not… not so like Sirius. Not so bloody good.

"Damn, Sirius," he said when they finally broke apart to catch their breath.

"Damn, Remus," he replied in the same tone and for a single moment, Remus was sure Sirius felt the same kind of regret he did that he wouldn't remember this the next day.

**x**-**x**-**x**

When Remus fell into his bed later that night, his lips still tasting so incredibly like Sirius, his head still full of pictures of his eyes, dark and wanting, he had to admit one thing: he wanted Sirius Black, aka Padfoot aka his best friend aka the one person he really really shouldn't feel those things for.

Damn, he needed some rules.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>If you are nice and review, you'll get the next chapter this very day as it's quite short (too short to simply publish it one day and tell you that it's enough, I'm much too nice to do that - I think ;)). I hope you enjoyed it and you're looking forward for the next chapters.<p>

Cya XXX


	10. The Golden Rules

A/N: Hi, I'm Cya, I'm at your service today. What can I bring you? What? A new chapter? Well, here you go.

Review Responses:

**Lizzy0308**: I'm happy your heart is healed now. Don't get it broken again!

**cutegixie**: You're such a well-behaved girl, lol. Thank you!

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Then I suppose it's a good thing I like your passionate review more than I'd like a polite, not-really-showing-your-intial-reaction one. ;) Ahh, don't put those images in my head! Remus and SEVERUS? Only because his name starts and ends with the same letters Sirius' does, does not mean you are allowed to talk about it! Uhh. Bad.

**mahefa**: Thanks, I'm always happy to see (alright, to hear from) people who like what I write. :)

Chapter Ten: The Golden Rules

Remus didn't waste time the next day. After breakfast, he settled in an armchair in the Common Room and began to make a list of something he called _The Golden Rules_. He promised himself to abide to every single one in the future, even if he might have broken a few of those rules in the previous week.

_Rule #1: Do not kiss Sirius Black._

_Rule #2: Do not think of kissing Sirius Black._

_Rule #3: Do not remember what it feels like to kiss Sirius Black._

_Rule #4: Do not say silly things about or to Sirius Black._

_Rule #5: Do not come in close proximity of Sirius Black._

_Rule #6: Do not blush when around Sirius Black._

_Rule #7: Do not stare at Sirius Black._

_Rule #8: Do not let people know that you want Sirius Black._

_Rule #9: Do not let Sirius Black know you want Sirius Black._

_Rule #10 (the most important rule which should be remembered at all times): Do not fall in love with Sirius Black._

"Hey Remus, what are you writing?" Sirius' voice was next to his head as he tried to get a glimpse of Remus' list.

"Nothing," Remus replied quickly and covered the parchment with his arms.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Oh my, my word count just said 252 words. That's <em>really<em> short. But since it's the second chapter today and it was only supposed to be a mini-chapter, I hope you forgive me. :) I'll try to update as soon as I can, but it's going to be a bit hectic the next days, I suppose it'll be on Thursday, but who knows? Maybe your reviews inspire me so much that I write something tomorrow? (This, if you didn't realise it, was a hint to write me a review, which will make me happy and inspired and cause me to update faster.)

Cya XXX

P.S. Why don't you let me know how many rules you think Remus already broke? ;)


	11. Clouded

A/N: Wow, I was SO impressed with you guys - 11 reviews for such a short chapter! I wanted to give you a nice long chapter in return, but then I wrote... this. And somehow, I just had to end it there. Sorry, I let my head hang in shame. But I can tell you I've already written one of the following chapters (I don't know yet which one exactly) and I know you'll love it. So, look forward to that! But first... enjoy the chapter! :)

Review Responses:

**HermioneGrangerisME**: I agree, it's probably more fun if you just continue not to think before you write (hey, it works for me!). Well, a bit longer it is... ;)

**claire-whitmore**: If you say so... That must be true then. ;)

**mahefa**: You too? Whenever I think of something good again, I'll get all excited and need to write it down instantly! :)

**evol love**: Thanks! :)

**SiriusOrRemus**: Ya think? :D Thanks for the review!

**Lizzy0308**: You think that was a cliffy? Oh, I can do better than that! ;)

**AndDelightReigned**: Thanks, I try my best. :)

**Miss R.E. Mulvey**: I wouldn't know, I don't drink coffee. :D But we are of the same opinion on this: rules are to be broken - those ones at the very least. ;)

**nykiyskittlez**: Thank you! :)

**cutegixie**: Didn't I already write that? lol. Oh of course, everything is Sirius' fault. It simply has to be, because Remus doesn't do anything wrong, now does he?

**Swiper3**: Thank you, I do, too! Let's wait and see how it goes for him...

Chapter Eleven: Clouded

The day after the party had started out horribly for Sirius – he had woken up only to find that his friends had already left for breakfast without him and that his head hurt like hell. He had scrambled out of bed and found a hangover potion on his bedside table. Quietly thanking Remus for leaving it for him, he had taken one big gulp and felt this headache soften almost immediately.

After he had gotten dressed, he had climbed down into the Common Room to find Remus writing one of his lists – he'd tried to sneak a peek, but Remus hadn't let him – and settled beside him. It was there he still sat now, watching Remus who had gotten rid of the parchment soon after his arrival and now read a book on Nifflers. Concentrating like that, his eyebrows drawn together, his mouth just slightly open, he looked utterly cute.

_Ooookay Sirius, moving on_, he told himself.

"Where are Wormtail and Prongs?" he asked, more for distraction than because he really wanted to know.

Remus looked up from the book, marking the page with a loose note in the process. "Flying. Well, James is flying, Peter is probably admiring him from a stand," he said, "You can go, too, if you want," he added then, blushing a bit at the end of that statement. Sirius wondered why he would be blushing at this, but didn't find an answer.

Funnily enough Sirius didn't want to join James and Peter. He thought briefly about his broom up in the dormitories and how the wind would feel in his hair, but then his gaze fell back onto the boy before him and he smiled.

"I think I'll stay in the warmth," he replied. Remus leaned back at his words and somehow he seemed nervous, self-conscious even.

"Oh, you can read if you want to," Sirius said quickly. "I don't want to bother you." Remus shook his head and left the book on the table, forgotten.

For a while they sat silently in front of the fire, enjoying each other's company. It felt peaceful, to Sirius, but he noticed he was the only one when Remus kept shooting him side-glances. Finally Remus seemed to have decided not to wait any longer. He tilted his head to the side and asked, "Are you okay?"

Sirius looked back at him. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? You left me the hangover potion, remember? Thank you, by the way," he replied.

A shadow crossed Remus' face, just for a second, but it had been there. Sirius frowned, but neither of them mentioned it.

"So, I should probably ask what I missed last night," Sirius said in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Little did he know he had somehow found the one subject that the heavy atmosphere was about in the first place (he was talented that way). "I remember James telling us to go to Hogsmeade for more supplies and a bit of our way there – and I think I helped you pack some of the bottles into your bag… How come everything is so clouded after that?"

"You nicked an extra bottle of Firewhiskey and chose to drink yourself into a state where you wanted to stop yourself from thinking," Remus told him. He meant for it to sound matter-of-factly, but it held just a tiny bit of accusation. Sirius must have picked up on it, because he bit his lip slightly, looking like a schoolboy caught at something he wasn't supposed to do. It was rather amusing, actually, because Sirius never looked that way when he was actually in a situation like that (which, if you didn't yet know, happened quite often).

"Oh," he said. Then, "Did I embarrass myself?"

Remus shook his head at the words.

"Good," Sirius declared. "Anything else I need to know? Prongs finally got over his Lilyflower? Pete ate all your chocolate again and had another sugar high?"

He had meant for it to be funny. It was. But Remus didn't laugh.

"No," Remus answered shortly, keeping his voice as even as he could. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing at all?" Sirius checked, eyebrow raised. He eyed Remus suspiciously, who seemed just a little too eager to negate his question.

"Nothing important," Remus clarified, and he pretended his voice didn't break on the last word.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>You'll get another one tomorrow probably. Can't promise anything though (full schedule!). But I try my best and as always, reviews help (even if they don't inspire me, they at least give me a bad conscience to keep you waiting too long!). :)<p>

Cya XXX


	12. Crush

A/N: Now I'm terribly confused - why do the site and my word disagree on the word count? Terribly confusing, this is. Anyway. I wrote you a new chapter! :) And it's just before midnight, so it's still "tomorrow"! Are you proud?

Review Responses:

**Lizzy0308**: You didn't? Oh, I really got that wrong, then... Does it help if I say I'm sorry?

**cutegixie**: Only if I can keep Remus and Sirius as well! ;)

**SiriusOrRemus**: And what about the fanboys, lol. Don't forget about them - I'm sure they just love Remus and Sirius! (I mean, how couldn't they?)

**Words of A Feather**: Thank you, it makes me happy to hear you were able to let the story distract you... wait, that wasn't what you said, right? lol. Anyway, I'm happy you like it and I'll definitely won't give up on this! :)

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Because, my dear lady, the story isn't over yet. :)

**Whimsical Desert**: Knowing Sirius, probably both...

**TheGreatAndPowerfulMoz**: Ah, of course you're right... I'm still learning English and I think I got confused there for a bit... I'll change it right after this chapter is up! Thanks for pointing it out. :) Sirius and SNAPE? Oh my... well, there are crazy people out there. ;) I suppose it has a bit of a dynamic, seeing as they hate each other to death and so on, but really, if you can have Sirius/Remus, who the hell wants to throw Snape in there? (And I actually like Snape... just not... in their way! It's simply unacceptable.) Concerning the updates, I'm normally really nothing even close to awesome... but I try very hard with this story, so I don't lose all my precious readers, and somehow it works. It's kind of amazing. :)

Chapter Twelve: Crush

It happened on Tuesday in their double Charms lesson. He watched Remus perform the new spell they learned – a weather spell, it wasn't really a helpful spell as its effects were varying, sometimes they could make it rain, sometimes snow would fall from the ceiling or rays of sunlight could be seen in the classroom. It also varied in size, depending on the magical talent a person possessed. Right now Remus was making a sweet summer breeze swoosh through the room. It caught in his hair and Sirius could see his eyes shining with joy, completely oblivious to the people around him. It was only when Remus looked up to him after the spell was over and blushed that Sirius realised he had been staring. He smiled at him before quickly averting his gaze.

_What was that again, Black?_ he asked himself. _You really shouldn't make a habit out of this._

_But he looked so cute_, another voice said.

_Will you shut up before anyone hears you! _the first voice protested._ Besides, that's totally not true._

_Dude, I'm in your head, no one can hear me but you. And you know it's true._

_I do not._

_Do too._

_Not!_

_Yes, you do. Come on, admitting that he's cute won't hurt you._

Sirius looked back at Remus, who was focused on looking up something in his Charms book and frowned a bit, resulting in his eyebrows drawing together like they normally did when he concentrated on a problem. He also chewed a bit on his lower lip which made him look so… so...

…_alright, alright. He _is_ cute. But in a very… Remus kind of way! Wait, that wasn't really a good protest to make it seem harmless, was it?_

The other voice laughed at him._ Well, there you go. Realisation is the first step towards success._

_What success? I don't want any success concerning Remus! I really don't!_

_It's a saying, mate, just a saying._

_Oh…_

_Interesting how panicked you got when you thought I suggested that, though._

_It's not interesting at all! And Sirius Black doesn't do panic._

_Of course not_, the voice answered sarcastically.

_Ahh! Will you shut up!_

_Why should I?_

_Because… you're distracting me! I need to pay attention to-_

_-Remus?_

_NO, not Remus! To the lesson, of course._

_You mastered this spell last time already._

_Eh, I, uh… well, I might learn something more about it tough!_

_Oh, don't fool yourself. Watching Remus is what you want to do. To see how his elegant hands hold his wand carefully, how he smiles this small smile that makes you go all warm and fuzzy inside, how he brushes back his hair, how good his ass looks in his uniform, how-_

_Alright, stop already! Why are you saying all those things?_

_Someone's got to tell you._

_Got to tell me what?_

_To figure it out._

_Figure _what_ out?_

_What all this is about. If you could excuse me now, I need to have a little nap… see you later!_

_What, you can't just go now! …hello? …HELLO? …damn. Unreliable inner voice._

"Padfoot, mate, where are you?"

"Huh?" Sirius said as he recognised James in front of him, looking at him like he was a bit crazy.

"Wow, I tried to get your attention for the last five minutes! What were you thinking about? Wait, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know that," James grinned.

"Remus," Sirius answered automatically, his head still clouded with thoughts that didn't seem to make any sense.

James laughed softly. "Yeah, I thought you might," he said, "judging by the fact that you stared at his ass for the past twenty minutes."

Sirius head snapped around to James, staring at him with wide eyes. "I did what?" he asked weakly.

"Oh, don't worry, it was only obvious to everyone except Remus," James said happily. Sirius felt oddly reminded of Dumbledore's airy attitude towards their romantic potential.

"Do you think I should wait for the lesson to be over before I go and drown myself?" Sirius asked, quite seriously I might add. James just laughed again.

"I would tell you to reconsider, but you bastard claimed the best bed in first year and I think I know who would be your successor if you were to suddenly die, so I'd rather tell you to go ahead," he told him.

"Ow! That's how much you value my life? You would trade me for my _bed_?" Sirius said, pretending to be hurt.

"No, of course not. I would also get your chocolate frog cards," James added dignified.

"Prongs, did I tell you how much I hate you today already?"

"I don't think you did, no. You were too busy looking at-"

"Thanks, I think I get your point," Sirius cut him off quickly.

"Are you sure? I could say it louder, or spell it out for you if you like?" James offered smirking.

"No, I'm quite sure, thank you." Sirius replied in his best you-don't bother-me-tone.

"Whatever you say, mate, whatever you say," James grinned as he got back to doing his DADA homework as he had, like Sirius, already mastered the spell and had nothing left to do in this lesson.

As he watched Remus laugh about Peter's failed attempt to use the charm (well, in his defence, he _did_ make it rain, but only above his own head), watched how his head fell back and the laugh lines next to his eyes became more pronounced, something finally clicked. Before he realised it meant everything would be so much more complicated from now on and he was most likely in for a lot of hurt and disappointment, there was a moment the thought didn't scare him in the least. Only for a moment, he was sure that a feeling like this, so warm and secure and full of affection, simply couldn't be wrong. And then the reality of the realisation hit him hard: He had a crush on Remus Lupin, and it was a huge and horrible and beautiful crush all at the same time.

**TBC**

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><p>Hey there! It's the end of the chapter again. I know, I know, I want to see where the two end up as well (well I sort of already do, in part, but still...)! I won't be able to write anything tomorrow, seeing as I'll be with friends the whole day. And I don't even know about Saturday and Sunday, because my cuteadorableperfect cousins are in town and I'm going to spend much time with them! I'll try, though, and the next chapter shall be up on Monday at the latest. Oh and... review, please, I LOVE to get up and see all the reviews I got over night! :)<p>

Cya XXX


	13. Stone walls and books

A/N: Sorry for the longer wait guys, I couldn't manage it before now; I hardly even slept those past days. It should be faster now… Oh and I think it's gonna be between 5 and 7 more chapters, including this one.

Review Responses: 

**mahefa**: lol, I take it you liked the newest developments?

**Freya-Rhianna**: Thank you, I do my best. :)

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Yes, sometimes he is slow indeed… but hey, it's part of his charme! ;)

**TheGreatAndPowerfulMoz**: Haha, the names are funny! Severius… :D I have friends who don't even like Harry Potter, can you imagine it? So I think I can forgive your friend for the strange taste in ships... And hey, at least Sirius/Severus is better than for example Hermione/Hagrid… (Yes, it exists. I read some pretty creepy stories about them having sex. I am disturbed for life!) Ahh, don't remind me of the future they face, it depresses me. I prefer to live in the bubble of their schooldays! Yes he is, but not for too long…

**SoIsThisThePriceOfLove**: I love to hear that sentence. :)

**claire-whitmore**: I agree to both :)

**serinal**: Wouldn't dream of giving it up.

**Miss R.E. Mulvey**: Aww, if it would be that easy…

**Words of A Feather**: Keep praising me and my head will probably explode. Oh well, it's a risk worth taking! I'll be writing and updating, writing and updating, writing and updating – who needs to eat anyway? :D

**Lizzy0308**: Yes, they're making progress… finally! I'll wait for your PM – thanks for the effort!

**SiriusOrRemus**: Hmmm… good question. But probably not – he doesn't have time to be anything else than a Lily chaser. Remus' is definitely worth it!

**Whimsical Desert**: If it took Sirius forever and Remus still didn't figure it out, what does that make him? :D

**Krazy-Katy**: And here they are saying stupid people aren't attractive! ;)

**adamantmelon**: Awww, that's 10 reviews less than I could have had – shame on you! :D But as long as you liked it, I'm happy. :)

**jkarhu**: No no nooooo, Christmas isn't over yet. Last chapter was Tuesday, which was exactly one week from Christmas. Today's chapter is on Wednesday, so it's in six days!

**oldblackhat**: Thank you! :)

Chapter Thirteen: Stone walls and books

Sirius wanted to ignore his newfound knowledge, but it proved to be impossible so he just gave up at some point. Now that he knew, it seemed to be so obvious – the way he always tried to be near him, paid attention to everything he said or did, how he was the only person who could calm him or tell him off unpunished… really, it was so damn obvious he didn't know how he could have missed it before. He didn't know how Remus could still miss it. But while Remus was totally oblivious to Sirius' feelings, someone else wasn't: Severus Snape.

When the observant little spy-in-the-making noticed Sirius shooting Remus nervous glances every now and then to check if he had already picked up on something, he did the math and smugly confronted Sirius after their Potions lesson on Wednesday evening.

"Hey Black, when are you planning to confess your love to Lupin?" he drawled. Sirius, who had been walking next to Remus and Peter, spun around with wide eyes.

"What?" he asked weakly; he was at a loss for more words. He felt overly aware of Remus' eyes on his face and struggled to retain his composure.

"Oh wait, that's it, you'll waiting to do it on Christmas Eve - for the effect," Snape added with a nasty grin.

Sirius still hadn't found his speech again, so out of habit he drew his wand and send a hex Snape's way, but he blocked it.

"It should tell you something that he's so upset over the simple _suggestion_-" Snape started to tell Remus when Sirius fired another spell at him, but he dodged it and shouted "Expelliarmus!" himself. Sirius, who hadn't expected Snape to fight back, was surprised by the move and his wand flew out of his hand. Instantly, James drew his own wand to help Sirius, but the boy had already ducked and avoided Snape's next spell that way, only to leap at him a second later. They wrestled for some time, Snape lost his wand in the fight as well, and soon Sirius had the upper hand and grinned at Snape underneath him, confident of his victory.

"Not so big-mouthed anymore now, are we?" he said.

Snape pushed him off and Sirius' back collided hard with the cold stone wall. The contact felt oddly familiar and for a moment, he thought he had already experienced it before. Snape came over and leant in close to whisper something at him, but Sirius didn't hear him anymore. A scene flashed in front of his eyes, making everything around him just a blur of various colours and sounds: Remus in Snape's place, his own back pressed to a stone wall quite like this one down in the tunnel leading to Honeydukes, Remus kissing him almost violently, the faint taste of dark chocolate from his lips.

The moment was over before it had really begun and automatically, his eyes found Remus' over Snape's head. They looked at each other for a moment and Sirius knew Remus could read in his eyes. Blushing, he turned away, leaving Sirius behind with the feeling of being punched in his stomach for no reason other than the fact that he had remembered and that Remus knew it, too.

**x**-**x**-**x**

They had kissed, and he had simply forgotten. How could he just forget? It had been such an amazing kiss. He could remember everything now: the way Remus' body had felt so close to his, how he had smelled of cold winter air and cinnamon, their desperate attempts to catch their breath after the kiss was over. It was all so clear to him now he simply didn't understand how he hadn't known before. But maybe the question wasn't how he could have forgotten, but how Remus could have kept it to himself for the past three days, not breathing a word about it. He had even told him nothing important had happened while he was drunk, for God's sake! Did that mean he didn't consider their kiss important? It had been their third already after all – but damn, it had been the first one they had shared without the excuse of a mistletoe above their heads! If that wasn't important, what was?

He should confront him about it. Or maybe he shouldn't. He probably should. Then again, maybe he should just go on as usual – Remus had done the same, after all. Oh, he just couldn't decide. He was pacing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. Inside, he knew, Remus would be sitting in an armchair next to the fire.

Okay, here was the thing: Ever since he had remembered what had happened, he couldn't forget it again. He knew how good it had felt, how it had been the best kiss he ever had and how much he wanted it to happen again. Suddenly it wasn't only a question of their friendship anymore. It was the question of whether or not they might give a relationship a try. If he went in now and confronted Remus, two things could happen: everything could go well and they could agree to try if they worked as a couple (Sirius noticed how the word still sounded weird - but good weird - to his ears when it concerned Remus and him) or Remus could tell him he really believed it hadn't been important and that they should just stay friends. After all, they had agreed on that just a week ago. How quickly things could change… But if Sirius just let it go, would he think back to this moment in ten years and wonder what could have been?

The question was simple, really – was it worth the risk? Answering it was what was so hard. Sirius continued pacing for several more minutes until he decided to go in and see what words came out of his mouth when he saw him. He had always been good at improvising after all.

He said the password to the Fat Lady, who eyed him suspiciously, and entered the Common Room. Sure enough, Remus was exactly where Sirius had reckoned him to be, holding a book but apparently not really focusing on it.

"Hey," Sirius said after he had gone over to him. He wrung his hands nervously. It seemed he had to go through every damn teenager syndrome of a crush with Remus after he had avoided it for so many years whenever he had liked a girl.

"Hey," Remus replied, putting the book aside. He looked incredibly calm – maybe he had already come to terms with the fact that they needed to talk yet again. Or maybe he didn't realise they had something to talk about at all.

Fear started to restrain him from speaking, so Sirius hurried to start without taking the time to revisit his words.

"Well, as you know, the Romantic Potential Spell declared us a good match and, ehm…" he started off awkwardly, hating the way it all sounded so _wrong_, but before he could continue, Remus' face changed as his mouth dropped open and his eyes grew bigger and bigger.

"Oh, God," he suddenly uttered, "Oh, God, how did I not think of that sooner. How could I _ever_ forget-"

"Remus, what the hell-?" Sirius started, but the _–are you talking about_ was lost when Remus stood abruptly, muttering that he had to go to the library and left in a hurry. Sirius stared after him, confusion filling his eyes.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>What it is that just came to his mind, you're wondering? Aw, I'm afraid you have to wait for the next chapter. Let me tell you that I really, really like the next one. :) I'm aiming for Wednesday. Reviews would be awesome!<p>

Cya XXX


	14. Humanity

A/N: I hurried, I hurried! Couldn't leave you guys waiting for so long now could I? :)

Review Responses:

**mahefa**: Hope the grin's still on your face after this... :)

**Oh-My-Dead-Wizard-Gawd**: Oh no, I don't want to kill you... I want to slowly torture you! *evil laugh* But look, I couldn't do it in the end anyways, so may I be forgiven? :)

**claire-whitmore**: Thanks :)

**cutegixie**: Oh, who are you going as? I bet it's fun! I hope you still made it, we wouldn't want you to dress up for nothing! And you wrote the 100th review for this story, so I dedicate this chapter to you! I hope you enjoy it. :)

**SiriusOrRemus**: Yeah, and Sirius is all for the risk, isn't he? ;) Read on, you'll find out...

**SoIsThisThePriceOfLove**: Thank you! :)

**Lizzy0308**: Aw no, it's fine, I know how that is. I can't believe we're already in chapter 14 - at the beginning of the story, I thought it would only be around 5 or 10 chapters long, and now we're here... but I must say I'm pleased with the length of it, I think it wouldn't have been as good if it were shorter. Anyways, I do have lots of ideas in my Moony/Padfoot folder on my PC - and I already know what I'm going to write once this story is finished. So don't worry - I'll be around! I love your reviews, too. :)

Chapter Fourteen: Humanity

It was almost midnight when Remus came back into the Common Room. James and Peter had gone to bed hours ago, but Sirius was still waiting for him. In fact, he had just gotten the invisibility cloak from James' trunk and had planned to search for him when the portrait opened and Remus stepped in.

"There you are!" Sirius said surprised. "Where have you been all evening? I just wanted to look for you."

Remus looked flustered, as if he had run back to the Common Room when he crossed the room to stand next to Sirius. "I was in the library," he replied and shot a look to the corner of the room where some four years sat, "Let's get out of here. I need to- we need to-" he didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence, "Just get the cloak," he finally said.

"Already got it," Sirius answered. "Haven't got the map, though, I couldn't find it."

"We'll be alright," Remus said and went ahead back to the portrait. He seemed to be in quite a hurry, so Sirius scrambled after him.

Outside, Sirius threw the cloak over both of them and let Remus lead the way since he had no idea what their destination was.

"Where are we going?" he whispered, but Remus shushed him. He peered around the corner and only when he saw the corridor was empty, he replied: "Astronomy Tower."

For the rest of their walk, they were silent. Sirius tried to ignore how close they were, but every now and then, their hips bumped against each other's or their hands brushed lightly and reminded him of the absence of space between them. For a second, Sirius considered just taking his hand to stop the accidentally brushing, but he noticed the way Remus tried to keep away from him and he realised it was probably a bad idea. Even if his insides burned with desire.

Finally, they reached the top of the stairs to the Astronomy Tower and Sirius let out a breath he didn't notice holding. He looked around for other people and threw the cloak off when he found the platform empty.

"So, what are we doing here, then?" he asked. He realised he hadn't pressed Remus for questions up until now simply because he trusted him so much – if he had been James or Peter, he wouldn't have agreed to go until he knew the plan. Then again, he still wouldn't have been that keen on finding out, even if it was the most brilliant prank plan ever, it didn't beat the curiosity he felt now.

Remus looked pale in the almost-full moonlight – the full moon was only two days away, after all – as he chewed his lower lip. Maybe Remus had been dreading the moment they were alone up here while Sirius had awaited it impatiently.

"I've got the answer," Remus said, but he looked as though the answer – to whatever question – didn't please him.

"What answer?" Sirius asked, clueless.

The other boy looked at him for a long time, waiting for him to get it. He didn't. So finally Remus replied: "I know why we have 94% romantic potential."

Sirius just stared at him. An explanation? Now? Now that he finally realised he was crushing on Remus he wanted to give him an explanation from a damn _book_?

He spotted a thick-looking book under Remus' arm and had no idea how he could have missed it before, it seemed to be huge. The cover was old and dusty and the title was unreadable. In the time Sirius stared, Remus opened the book and turned to a page at the far end of it. As Remus began to read a paragraph out loud, his voice implied it was a very important passage and Sirius tried to listen for a hint at what had unsettled Remus so much.

"_The _Matchmaking Spell_, also unofficially called _Romantic Potential Spell_, is used to find out the compatibility of two individuals. In the past, it has been known to be the basis for arranging harmonic marriages. In 1704, a Dragon expert called Arthur tried to apply the spell to dragons for breeding purposes. When it didn't work, he explored the concept further and uncovered that it did not work on animals altogether. Until today, his studies are widely accepted as proof that the _Matchmaking Spell_ only works on Humans_," Remus ended and turned his gaze back towards Sirius who looked at him with a confused look on his face. Remus sighed.

"It's all there, Sirius," he said. "I don't know how I didn't think of it sooner."

"What's all there?" Sirius asked, brows furrowed in mystification.

Remus gazed up at the bright moon above them before he looked back at Sirius. "It's all one big mistake," he started to explain. "The spell didn't work for us because I am a werewolf; because I'm not entirely human – it just gave us any random number," he laughed humourlessly at the irony of it all, but in reality he just wanted to cry.

Sirius' face had become very serious and solemn, somehow. "You have more humanity in you than anyone in this school," he said and he sounded angry at Remus for even suggesting otherwise, "including me," he added at the end.

"Sirius," Remus said it in a way that made Sirius angry again. Like anything he could possibly say would never make a difference to the other boy's perception of himself. "Face the facts, for once."

"Do you doubt your ability to love now?" Sirius asked and the look on his face should have been enough to tell Remus to be very careful with his answer.

"No," Remus answered, and he sounded equally exhausted with the world and disgusted with himself. "I doubt my _right_ to love."

Sirius was standing right in front of him suddenly and before Remus even realised how he got there, he had already slapped him.

"How dare you… how _dare_ you," Sirius added, his hands shaking with suppressed rage. Remus didn't have time to feel threatened, however, as he exploded with his own fury now: "You don't know how it is! Feeling a monster inside of you every waking moment, having to control yourself all the time to not let it get the better of you! It's not as if anyone would even _want_ me to love them!"

Sirius looked torn at his words, trying to decide if he should say what was on his mind. All the anger had dropped from him when he heard Remus' words. He opened his mouth several times, but no words came out of it. Finally, he closed his eyes, took one deep breath and when he looked at Remus again, his expression clearly said: _I'm only going to say this once._

"I do," he admitted then and almost instantly he pressed his hand to his mouth, but it didn't look like he regretted what he said. He looked like he couldn't quite comprehend it himself, now that he had said it out loud, he looked like _God, this is so crazy_, but he knew it was true.

Remus just stared at him, minutes passing by, maybe hours, he didn't know, it all shrunk into an endless blur of time. He stared into Sirius' grey eyes, full of truth and honesty and friendship and affection and more, more, so much more.

**TBC**

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><p>Don't kill me, don't kill me! Or if you do, do it with a review! (Oh wow that rhymes!)<p>

Cya XXX


	15. Tainted

A/N: I have been a bit busy those past days (well, frankly, I've been to the annual fair multiple times and I just wasn't in much to write). So today I accompanied my mother to work (I do that sometimes, I find it relaxing to be at a place where I can hardly do anything but write and I'm not supposed to work myself) and I wrote this chapter and a bit of the next one as well. I couldn't leave you hanging like this, after all. :)

Review Responses:

**mahefa**: I'm so sorry! ...or am I? I _is_ fun, after all. I'm afraid I'll do it again... But I never leave you in the dark for long, right? Right? So you can't be angry at me. O:-) (Ah, how relieved I am.)

**AndDelightReigned**: ...you sound kind of obsessed, somehow? Or is that just my imagination? ;)

**Stanleylouis**: Thank you! :) I assumed you meant too cute to bear, not that to bare wouldn't be interesting as well! XD

**claire-whitmore**: Yes well, where does the Astronomy Tower's reputation concerning late night snogs come from, anyway? I'm happy I could surprise you anyway. :)

**SiriusOrRemus**: I thought very long about this, because I really, really hate clichés and I try to avoid them whenever possible. I think you are right, but also wrong. I think you are right that it is probably a cliché, but somehow it doesn't irk me, which is why I was so confused. I think it is because it really is part of Remus' character, JKR created his inner insecurity in the books – after all, Remus had doubts about his relationship to Tonks and about her being pregnant, constantly showing signs that he thought he wasn't worthy of love or maybe just too dangerous to love... and I think that trait would have been even more pronounced in his youth (lucky he had such I-really-don't-care-about-your-lycanthropy-friends). So yeah... I just wanted to say I agree with you concerning the clichéness of that scene, but I think it was necessary out of character studies... but feel free to disagree, or not care at all. :) Who kiiiiissed? O.o

**SoIsThisThePriceOfLove**: Thanks :)

**Narcissa Raie**: Aww, then we should let you two get married. Is that possible somewhere, to marry a story? I would totally marry Harry Potter. But somehow I doubt it's legal... and people would probably say it was strange... ah well. At least we can enjoy them. :)

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Read on, you'll find the answer in this chapter... I'm just not sure you'll like it very much.

**cutegixie**: You're very welcome. :) Aww, I would have loved to see that, I bet you were very cool (and sexy, of course, being Remus and all ;)) Yes, I absolutely loathe it when all is perfect suddenly and all the conflict is gone in a second – it's just not realistic. That's probably why I'm not writing it... ;)

**Lizzy0308**: Always a pleasure to read your reviews. :) Yes, don't we all need a friend like Sirius sometimes?

**TheGreatAndPowerfulMoz**: Noooo, if it were finished I would label it as such and I would have written _The End_ or _Fin_ or something below the chapter. Also, it would have a much longer author's note. ;) I totally agree! Your sister is weird – just saying. :) I have friends who _hate_ HP (they are weird, too), but my half-sister loves it just as much as I do, so at least my family is partly sane... Uhh, don't even make up a word for it. Just... no. It's wrong. So, so wrong.

**Oh-My-Dead-Wizard-Gawd**: Aww, thank you. I'm happy you liked it so much! :)

**anonymous**: It's here, it's here!

**Runaway Memories**: I know they are short, I just don't seem to be able to write longer chapters... :( It is really fun to write the interaction/reactions (probably just because JKR made up such great characters to work with)!

Chapter Fifteen: Tainted

"I tell you, something is up!" James insisted, but Peter just shook his head.

"You know they haven't been the same lately. Don't read too much into it," he said.

"But it's different now. They seem to be tiptoeing around each other even more than they've been the last weeks. I tell you, something happened last night that we don't know about."

Peter shrugged. "Maybe you're right, but why does it matter?"

"It matters because I want to know!" James said forcefully, pretending to be shocked that Peter didn't already know that.

"And how do you want to find out?" the other boy asked, expecting an ingenious plan as always.

"I don't know," James just sighed. "I'm still working on that part..."

**x**-**x**-**x**

Sirius looked up to the clear-blue sky. The air around him was cold, but it was pleasant. Tomorrow evening, the sun above him would be replaced by a full, bright moon. Remus would change in the shack… and for the first time since becoming an illegal animagus, Sirius wasn't sure where he'd be.

It had been silent between the two friends after Sirius' sudden confession. Finally, Sirius knew how all the girls must be feeling when he dumped them. Unwanted. Exposed. Lost. Somehow, he hadn't imagined it to be so hard.

Sirius stared ahead of him and saw the Great Lake sparkle in the light of the afternoon sun. He had gone for a stroll after lunch to clear his head, but as of now, nothing had come from it. Remus was in Arithmancy at the moment and he knew James and Peter had wanted to go to the Common Room to think of a new prank. Normally, he'd be there with them. He had briefly considered taking Arithmancy in their third year, but one look at the book Remus carried around had helped him to decide – against it. It didn't look fun at all, even if Remus loved it. Actually, that was the only reason he had considered doing it in the first place.

Remus... the boy who said nothing. With every minute Remus had simply stared at him, Sirius had realised more and more things about himself that made him self-conscious... which _never_ happened.

Then the footsteps on the stairs. Remus had been the one to react – another uncommon thing. Not that Remus reacted, but that Sirius didn't beat him to it. In a matter of seconds, he had found himself under the invisibility cloak and pressed close to the wall with Remus, painfully aware that though they were incredibly close, the distance between them had never been more profound.

After a mumbling Filch had left, they had, too. The walk back to the Common Room had been one of the hardest things Sirius had ever done. He had felt as if he should say something, anything, to not let his last words have been so essential, but he didn't have anything else to say. He had felt as though he had spent all the words he was allowed for one day, used up all the energy that was given to him for a lifetime. Two times, he had almost grabbed Remus' hand, simply because in the past, it had been some sort of peace gesture between them, but he knew it wouldn't help matters now, not at all.

The Common Room had been empty when they had come back, and the only sound came from the still-lit fireplaces. Never, _never_ before had Sirius ever doubted they would be friends forever. Sirius being a total prat sometimes? Remus had never bothered much. Remus being a werewolf? Barely a minor disturbance. But this... this was close to destroying it all. Now that he was at his point, Sirius knew it hadn't been worth it to try. Not in exchange for their friendship. When he had said the words, he had tried to comfort Remus, to make him see his point of view, where Remus was practically faultless and amazing and loveable. What it did in the end, he wasn't completely sure about – but it hadn't caused what he had intended it to. Backfired, it had. So hard you could almost say literally.

Why, oh why did the damn full moon have to be tomorrow? If they would at least have a few days to adapt to the new situation they were in... not that Sirius knew if they could ever do that. But they could at least try. They didn't really have much of a chance now – you simply couldn't make this all okay in only one day. And quite frankly, though Sirius wasn't sure if Remus even wanted him with him this full moon, _he_ didn't want to be there. Those nights with Moony had always been special to him, somehow. He felt guilty for not thinking about his friend first, but he simply couldn't stand the idea of making the full moon nights something... tainted.

**x**-**x**-**x**

Great, just great. It was _so_ typical. The irony of it really made Sirius sick. So yesterday he had come to the decision that he wouldn't attend Remus' transformation tonight, right? Yes. That was also the reason he hadn't thought much of it when he had landed himself in detention for the night because he hexed Snape (Snivellus' own fault of course, with his existence and all); it wasn't like he really had other plans.

But as he sat in detention right now – writing the lines "I am not supposed to make other people's lives harder than they need to be" for the forty-seventh time (something he found quite amusing, since he was of the opinion Snivellus' life wasn't yet hard enough, so he hadn't generally done anything wrong) –, he knew he had made the wrong decision. If he was anything, anything at all, then he was Remus' friend. It didn't matter if Remus wanted him to, it didn't matter if it would have been awkward or if Sirius would have wished himself miles away the whole time – first of all, he was Remus' friend. He should have been there for him. But now he couldn't simply change his mind and hurry after his best friends – he was stuck in the dungeons with a ridiculously long sentence to write four hundred times (he was sure Slughorn had picked such a long sentence on purpose).

He remembered the shocked faces of his friends when he had left the Common Room earlier today and Peter had asked where he was going cluelessly.

"Detention," Sirius had mumbled and shrugged. He hadn't even stopped to explain why he was in detention. He had heard James gasp and avoided the protest that was sure to follow by leaving as fast as possible, willing his mind to forget Remus' pained expression.

He had regretted it that very moment, but it wasn't until the very next morning that Sirius came to realise how fatal his decision really had been.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Aw, I've done it again! I think I'll have to go into hiding soon, or you'll come after me... but remember, you won't get anything if you kill me now. ;) As always, reviews are very much loved and appreciated.<p>

Cya XXX


	16. Pretty wild

A/N: I know, I know, it's been too long, again. *sigh* I have been quite entangled in my own love life (which, sadly, doesn't look like the ones of the Marauders - with the exception of Peter naturally) these past days, but I felt so bad for leaving you hanging there that I just had to finish the chapter before I go to bed. Forgive all mistakes I might have made - it's late and I'm tired as hell - and I hope you all enjoy!

Review Responses:

**mahefa**: Because then you will check in again because it is haunting you to your dreams? Isn't that the reason for suspense anyway? They do it in books as well, ending like this I mean, the difference is only that to know what happened you only have to turn a page… ;)

**Lizzy0308**: Nooooo, you can't be that cruel! The idea behind cliff hangers is to keep people reading after all! If you guys stop reviewing, I will stop posting! And we wouldn't want that, now would we? *evil grin* Of course I wouldn't (as long as I get my happy reviews [they are like happy pills only they don't do bad things to your health – I really recommend them!]). I am writing this response while our guest is in the living room chatting with my mom (to be honest, it isn't really a great sacrifice, I don't like her anyway, BUT it might be considered a bit impolite – I do have a great excuse though ;)).

**TheGreatAndPowerfulMoz**: Ahhh, another one of those! I haven't even seen AVPM, let alone AVPS, so sadly, I have no idea which scene you mean – maybe I should take some time off writing to go and watch it…? Only kidding, I hope I can manage both in the future. :) Sane is very relative, I think… ;) Man, James and Sirius must be really big losers then!

**PenNameless1994**: Good thing we agree on that one, otherwise I would have had to take revenge on you for calling Sirius an idiot… but since he is, I'll let it slip. ;)

**claire-whitmore**: I do hope he can hear your reasoning. Though I think if he could, he probably wouldn't end up in Askaban because he had known what a rat (literally!) Peter was and he also hopefully wouldn't be all… dead now… oh JKR, why did you have to do that? *sobs* I can live with killing of characters (I decided to kill off my favourite character from the book I'm writing months ago and I still think it was the right decision), but couldn't we at least get the two last years with him? Is that too much to ask? *sad sigh* Oh well. That's what fan fictions are for!

**SiriusOrRemus**: Well, I think from a hardcore puppyshipper's (as you said) point of view, that is one good way to interpret what JKR gave us to work with, but it makes Remus just a tiny bit less the good person I like to see him as... you see, the Remus I imagine him to be would be too nice to use Tonks like that, therefore he might not have really loved her, but he certainly believed he did. Does that make sense? I'm sorry if it doesn't, it's really getting late as of now... Anyway, we agree that Sirius and Remus are made for each other, which is the important part after all! :)

**Take me away a secret place**: Thank you! :) I'm doing the updating right now.

**Stanleylouis**: It happens to me, too. Sometimes I even write totally a unconnected word in the place of another, simply because my mind is fixed on other things. I totally share your feelings on the fun-in-the-bumblings-part (if you can say that, I don't have the privilege of calling English my first language - ah, the envy!).

**Runaway Memories**: I agree, I agree! Remus just needs to turn up on my doorstep already! He could even bring Sirius if he wanted, I certainly wouldn't complain...

**Meel Jacques**: Aww, thank you. It always helps to hear someone likes what you write. :)

**Javien Deluke**: Well, while your review arrived three times and confused my email server a bit, I am pleased to hear that you are finally out in the open, so to speak. Did I repay my debt by writing a longer chapter today?

**coatwest**: Wait a second... *looks around, then points to a nearby armchair* Please have a seat, new readers are always welcome! :) Thank you, I'm working hard on both this fic and the application, so hopefully both will be a success. Your good wishes certainly help. :)

**Skatingmusiclover**: They are, aren't they? Can't even think of not writing more chapters.

**TechNomaNcer28**: Ohh, thank you for all of your reviews. I do hope this brings you back to life though, I was just getting used to get so many nice reviews from you (since you sent four in such a short amount of time! Yay!).

Chapter Sixteen: Pretty wild

It was very early in the morning when Sirius was almost finished and only wanted to be on his way back to the dormitories to his long-awaited bed that Professor McGonagall entered the room. She shot him a look before she went over to Professor Slughorn to talk in quiet whispers. From the first minute on, Sirius knew what it was about. He had dropped his quill and tried to hear the words the Professors spoke, but it was too low for him to hear. He stood up and went to the desk where the teachers had fallen silent upon his approach.

"This is about Remus, isn't it? Is he hurt?" Sirius asked, trying to keep from panicking. Could they just say he was okay, please?

Professor McGonagall looked at him for a long moment without saying a word. The silence didn't really help to calm Sirius.

"I am afraid so," she answered finally, obviously deciding that he deserved to know, or maybe she just knew that Hogwarts' top marauder would find out anyway.

Sirius closed his eyes for a second, but he opened them again to wordlessly shove his unfinished written lines into Slughorn's big hands and leave the room. He didn't care he hadn't done his whole detention. He didn't care if Slughorn was angry or if Professor McGonagall didn't approve. He knew where he had to be, where he should have been all along.

**x**-**x**-**x**

James faced him with a determined and hard look in his eyes, and Sirius could easily read the words in them: _You're an ass._

Sirius' expression clearly answered: _Yes, I know._

James nodded somewhat stiffly, but Sirius knew that was all there would be to it between them – James had shown him what he thought of his actions, Sirius had agreed with him, and now they were good. Peter didn't say anything and Sirius wasn't sure if he didn't know this was his fault or if he just wasn't brave enough to confront him on it, but he knew he wouldn't have any trouble from him. This left only one person... the most important of all. Finally, Sirius shifted his gaze to Remus' bed and gasped. He looked worse than he would have thought. He had bruises and cuts all over, and his right arm looked rather broken. He was asleep, which was both good and bad – good for him probably, so he wouldn't feel the pain so much, and bad for Sirius, because he had no idea where they stood without talking to him or at least looking into his eyes.

"It was… pretty wild," James then told him quietly after checking that no one was around to overhear. After all, he wasn't supposed to have that knowledge, really. At least not as an actual witness to the event, but Sirius thought it was pretty obvious it had been wild when you looked at Remus. He just nodded. He wondered if Remus already figured out this wouldn't have happened without his absence or if he would do so in front of his eyes when he woke up.

He sat down in a chair close to Remus' bed and looked at his hand longingly. He just wanted to be there for him now, even if it was too late, he wanted some way of making up for his lack of support before. But he knew he had no right to touch Remus in his state, when he couldn't even protest or accept it, especially in their current situation. So he just sat there, staring at him.

Madam Pomfrey came and went to tend to Remus' wounds. Half an hour after Sirius' arrival, she tried to send them all away to bed, but only James and Peter hesitantly followed her demand – though they didn't want to leave Remus alone, they were very tired and they, too, must be hurt in places presently covered by clothing, but hide it until they were alone to take care of it themselves. Sirius didn't move and neither the other boys nor Madam Pomfrey told him to go a second time – there was just something in his posture, a little too protectively bend over Remus, a little too tense in clutching the arm rests, a little too focused on Remus' still tightly shut eyes, that told them every argument was useless. And so he stayed, perfectly still, perfectly alone.

**x**-**x**-**x**

It was around ten o'clock when Remus woke up, groaning lowly with the pain. Sirius didn't say a word as he observed the werewolf's grimace, but it didn't take long for Remus to find his gaze. He would have bit his lip and blushed on every other occasion, but now he just remained in the very same position and looked at his friend, wondering how on earth they could show him all the same emotions they had on the Astronomy tower that night and still have space for the utmost regret he could read so easily in them now.

Sirius was the one to break the eye contact in the end as he looked around for the food tray Madam Pomfrey had brought him two hours ago. He hadn't touched it, but he knew there was a heat-containing charm over it, so it would still be good to eat. He reached for it and sat it on Remus' bedside table, silently offering it to him. He would have smiled at Remus on every other occasion, but now he just leaned over him to help him sit up with the softest touch. Remus pulled the tray towards him and settled it over his stomach. He would have laughed at his awkward attempts to eat with his left hand on every other occasion, but now Sirius just gently took the fork out of his hand, pronged some mushrooms and held it out for Remus to eat.

Then, the tiniest of signs of normality – Remus' slightly lifted eyebrow, an amused small smile playing at his lips, wordlessly asking him if he really was serious. The black haired boy rolled his eyes and nudged the mushrooms to his lips, trying to bring the young lycanthrope to open it. Remus let out a short laugh, just enough to give Sirius time to force the mushrooms inside his mouth. He grinned then, watching Remus chewing them in defeat. For a while, it continued like this, they were just Moony and Padfoot again, having casual fun with each other like the world was a safe and beautiful place.

"I forgot how good we are at this," Remus said, breaking the charm of silent bliss.

"At what?" Sirius replied, fork still clutched limply in his hand.

"Pretending," the simple answer was. Sirius bit his lip, all the emotions he pushed aside before returning to his quiet gaze.

The silence that followed was heavy, oppressive, thick with every word they didn't dare to voice.

"I shouldn't have said nothing," Remus finally stated, but Sirius shook his head frowningly.

"No, it's alright. It shouldn't have kept me from coming," was all he gave back, quite truthfully at that. In the prospect of what he had done, or failed to do, Remus' actions really could be labelled 'alright'.

"I wasn't very nice to you," Remus said again, stubbornly sticking to the illusion that he was partly at fault as well.

"I shouldn't have cared," Sirius insisted. Remus still looked like he didn't quite agree with the amount of regret he felt, but he didn't protest at his words, sensing Sirius still had more to say. "I still should have been your friend," his face changed into the most pained expression Remus had ever seen on him. "It seems… it seems like on this, I always let you down. And the thing is, you know, I don't even have a problem with the whole werewolf thing. I can't say I did it out of fear, like Peter could, or for some greater good, like James probably, no… the only thing I can say why I did it is because I am one selfish bastard. Really, and I claim to be in love with you…" he lauged humoulessly, "when the only thing I ever do is hurt you where it hurts most."

It probably shouldn't have made a difference to him if Sirius confessed wanting to be loved by him or said he was in love with him – it was basically about the very same thing, after all – but somehow it did. It sounded so different this time – no longer scared to admit it, Sirius had been able to make it sound as if it was common knowledge already. Remus had felt completely overwhelmed three days ago, and he was still a little taken aback now, but the way he had said it today suddenly left no doubt in his mind that Sirius, at the very least, knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Rem?" Sirius' voice somehow made it through to his consciousness finally.

"Yeah?" the other boy replied, his mind still ringing with the words 'claim to be in love with you…'.

"Say something?" Sirius asked, his grey eyes pleading with his. Remus wondered briefly how Sirius could muster such a look with his eye colour – brown should really have been much more appropriate for such puppy dog eyes. The second he thought it, however, it felt ridiculous – Sirius and his grey eyes belonged together like Dumbledore and the long white beard, like Snape and greasy hair, like the Great Hall and noise – like the Marauders and mischief.

"What am I supposed to say?" he managed to bring out just in time before Sirius gave up on an answer from his friend.

"I have no idea," Sirius admitted and then the silence was back, not as oppressive as before, but nagging at their minds nonetheless.

When he saw Sirius' sad expression, the worry in the lines around his mouth, rational thoughts could not stop his hand from grabbing Sirius' and squeezing it tightly. He knew, at that moment, that they would be okay, and it seemed that somehow, through the contact of their hands, Sirius knew it, too.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>I hope the slightly happier note at the end of the chapter made up for all the angsty, sad, complicated atmosphere of the last ones. I thought about having another major talk about all those hard things here, but I felt they might need some sort of a break, if only for a short while, so I included the little mushroom incident. If any of you are confused as to what Sirius is referring to when he says he seems to <em>always<em> let him down on the werewolf matter, of course he means the 'prank' on Snape in their sixth year (which should tell you that this is in 7th year, but it doesn't really matter much, the important information really is that the prank already happened and that this already lays behind them, though Sirius obviously still feels bad for it - which he should! I wish JKR never made him do that.).

Enough of the rambling. I really had much fun writing this - the small silent conversation between James and Sirius (I can totally picture them being that way with each other), and the Sirius/Remus interaction especially - and I hope you had just as much reading! If you did, or even if you didn't, or if you believe you had even more - whatever really, I'm not picky - leave a review! As always, it makes my day. I'll try very hard for a new chapter on Wednesday!

Cya XXX


	17. Unmatched

A/N: It's not Wednesday, and I'm very sorry about that, but I have a feeling you'll like this chapter, so I hope I am forgiven once again. :)

Review Responses:

**TheGreatAndPowerfulMoz**: You most certainly did impress me with those, lol. Oh, now you are probably suggesting after I watch AVPM and AVPS I should take the time to watch Glee? Ah, so many things on my to do list, so few time... but let's make a deal, after I read the brand new Eragon book (of which I am a proud owner since yesterday morning), I'll go watch AVPM / AVPS right away. Deal?

**HermioneGrangerisME**: Let's hope you are right about that. But for now, let's worry about the pups' bittersweet love, since it looks so much better for them (with being totally in love with each other and having the chance of their life and such)!

**cutegixie**: Thank you, you are certainly right, but worrying about others kind of is part of my problem in the first place, lol. I'm working on it. And I'm very happy you liked the interaction! :)

**Words Of a Feather**: Good to know! :)

**mahefa**: Thanks!

**SiriusOrRemus**: I agree, no matter even what they themselves might think about it, lol. They have to submit themselves to my will, yes they must. Good thing I just want what's best for them, isn't it? ;)

**TechNomaNcer28**: Thank you, I hope they are well rested now for today's midnight experience! ;)

**Lizzy0308**: I wouldn't ever! If you were dead, who would write my reviews? ;) Hmmm I'm not sure about that - you see, Remus doesn't mean he shouldn't have addressed the issue, but he is referring to Sirius' recent confession, to which he said nothing, which he regrets now. I thought Sirius' answer that he should have come to the full moon anyway would explain that, but maybe I wasn't very clear there... But doesn't that mean "I shouldn't have said nothing." is correct?

Chapter Seventeen: Unmatched

Remus woke to the sound of wind blowing against the window, the vague smell of cinnamon and the feeling of something heavy on his chest. He opened his eyes slowly to shield them from potential sunlight, but it was still night. The moon shone into the room calmly and lit it up just enough for Remus to identify Sirius' head on top of him, breathing evenly. Despite the unfamiliarity of the situation, Remus smiled when he noticed that though Sirius had fallen asleep, he hadn't let go of his hand which now felt a little colder than was normal for the boy. Remus tightened his grasp slightly and hoped it would spend him some warmth.

He turned his gaze from the other boy's tousled hair to look around the room. Everything looked the way it had before he had fallen asleep again, except for a glass on his bedside table which probably contained some sort of medicine he should take. He reached for it slowly, careful not to wake Sirius in the process, and gulped it down in one go. His frequent stays in the hospital wing had taught him that most of the potions tasted quite bad and it was better to get it over with quickly.

As he put the glass back on the table, something caught his eye just outside the window. He took a closer look and almost let out an audible gasp. Soft snowflakes fell from the sky and came to sit on the windowsill. This, together with the slight coldness he was beginning to feel and the smell of cinnamon in the air finally convinced him that it was indeed winter, and only a few days from Christmas. Remus had struggled to get into a Christmassy mood all month long, despite all the mistletoes hanging around and the green and red colours which grazed the entire castle, but seeing the white snowflakes making their journey from the clouds suddenly made him think of snowmen and snow angels, of warm fires in the Common Room and hot chocolate on cold mornings. Before his inner eye, he could see half the student body out on the grounds, throwing snowballs at each other. Only last year, the marauders – first of all James and Sirius – had initiated a fight so big that it almost got an entry in A History Of Hogwarts. It would have if there had been three more people involved. He remembered how disappointed Sirius and James had been once Dumbledore told them this, and how determined their faces had looked at their decision to have an even bigger snowball fight this year. He had no doubt they would make it happen.

He looked down at Sirius' sleeping form half-resting on his bed and smiled again. Sirius loved the first snow of the year – Remus could recall the December night in their first year of Hogwarts quite clearly, when Sirius had woken him up well past one o'clock in the morning only to drag him outside for a walk in the newly fallen snow. He had been reluctant to go first, but once they were outside, his protest had ebbed down fast – it had been magnificent.

Funny how he had never noticed they really _did_ have a different relationship with each other than with every other member of the Marauders, or even every other person at all. Not just the regular kind of different he had claimed to have before, like how he had a different relationship with James than he had with Peter, no – one really special relationship that was unmatched by any other.

Pushing the thoughts away, he decided Sirius would be really angry with him in the morning when he found out Remus had seen the first snow and not woken him up. As Remus wanted to extend his hand to gently shake Sirius awake, he was startled to find his fingers already entangled in the soft black hair, absentmindedly playing with it for God knows how long.

After he had regained his composure, he followed through with his initial plan. Sirius stirred and yawned for a whole minute before he noticed his surroundings thoroughly.

"Wasn'tme" he said, his voice still thick with sleep and his mind clearly not completely out of his dream world, either.

"Sure, Padfoot," Remus gave back amused. Sirius' head jerked up from where it had laid on Remus' chest as he looked at him with wide eyes. He quickly concealed his surprise, though, and grinned at the lycanthrope.

"Hey there pillow," he said lazily.

"Hey," Remus gave back. "You're lucky as that is about the only part of me that isn't hurt."

Sirius' grin fell within seconds only to be replaced by a remorseful expression and Remus bit his tongue for his own foolishness. However, the harm was already done.

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled.

Remus shook his head, not willing to let the recent events destroy this moment. He smiled warmly at Sirius.

"It's quite alright," he said, and noticed that it was. He had actually liked being used as a pillow by the other boy.

"How do you feel?" Sirius asked instantly, as if to make up for the fact that that hadn't been the first thing he asked.

"I'm okay. Madam Pomfrey left another potion for me, I took it just some minutes ago," he added.

Sirius nodded. "Good," was all he answered.

It was silent for some moments before Remus couldn't help but grin broadly at the animagus. Sirius looked at him in a confused manner and Remus' grin grew even wider.

"I have something for you."

Sirius' expression became, if possible, even more puzzled. After all, apart from the fact that he couldn't move due to his injuries anyway, Sirius had been sleeping on him, so whatever it was he got him must have already been here before, or have miraculously appeared.

"What?" he asked when Remus didn't say anything more.

"Turn around," Remus advised him and when he did, he was grazed with the sight of the first snowflakes of the year. He jumped up immediately and made his way over to the window with few large steps.

"It's snowing!" he exclaimed happily. Remus, still in bed, smiled at the other boy's joy.

Sirius stood at the window for a while before Remus told him to open it already. Sirius was secretly pleased that Remus had made it so easy for him to enjoy the snow without being worried about possible wind coming in and making Remus too cold. The werewolf, still watching Sirius as he now opened the window and stretched out his hands to catch a snowflake, had very well known he was the only reason the window had still been closed and didn't have any intention whatsoever to keep Sirius from his fun.

It wasn't long until Sirius' hands were freezing and full of snow. Careful not to let it melt in the process, he shut the window again and made his way back to Remus' bed where he offered the snow to him. Remus laughed and touched a part of it with his index finger. It melted under his touch and left a hole in the white snow. Together, they watched the rest of the snow melt away as well, before Sirius dried his now wet hands on Remus' bedcover.

"Thank you," Sirius said when he turned back to him, his eyes full of genuine gratitude. Remus had intended to point out the fact that he wasn't responsible for the weather, but the look in Sirius' eyes drained all his words. He smiled at him affectionately before bringing a hand to his face. He heard Sirius' breath first stop and then quicken, hot against his hand; felt the lingering coldness from outside under his fingers and realised with a jolt the cinnamon-like smell he had noticed before actually seemed to come from his best friend.

Now he could have blamed it on the fact that cinnamon was his favourite smell besides chocolate, he could have blamed it on the magic of the first snow, he could have blamed it on the whole bizarre situation they were in, or even on their strangely high romantic potential. But he didn't. Because when Remus Lupin leant in to kiss Sirius Black this time, he finally knew that this was it: the real thing. It might have been different from what he had imagined it to be, what everyone expected it to be, it might have even felt a bit strange for both of them at the beginning, and it might feel strange to everybody else still, but the way it was – the unique, complicated, impossible, perfect way – that way, it was just right.

**TBC**

* * *

><p>Aw, so this is it. No, it's not the end, but it's very close. There will be one more chapter, some kind of Epilogue in Dumbledore's POV (well, mostly his POV) just like jkarhu suggested all those chapters ago! I hope you liked this and I'm looking forward to reading all your reviews again! (Maybe, because this is the next to last chapter and all, I'll get an extra lot of them?) Have a great day!<p>

Cya XXX


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